A Chester County man who falsely accused a neighbor of sexually abusing his son was sentenced to county jail

A Chester County man who was embroiled in a homeowners association dispute with a neighbor and falsely accused him of sexually assaulting the man’s son has been sentenced to jail, state officials said Tuesday.

Kiran Jonnala, 48, of East Whiteland Township, was convicted in December of making false reports of child abuse and retaliating against a witness or victim.

Authorities said Jonnala had told his son’s Boy Scout troop leader that the 13-year-old had been molested by a neighbor in Malvern Hunt.

But prosecutors said that wasn’t true. The boy told investigators he had never been assaulted, authorities said, and had never told his father otherwise.

Acting Attorney General Michelle Henry called Jonnala’s behavior “reckless and damaging.”

“By lying and reporting information that he knew was false, the defendant wasted valuable time and resources that could have been spent getting dangerous predators off the streets,” Henry said. “My office continues to take all allegations of child sexual abuse very seriously, and we will hold those who make false accusations accountable for their lies.”

Jonnala was sentenced last week to one to 23 months in county jail by Chester County Judge Analisa Sondergaard. His attorney, Lindsay Killian, did not return a request for comment.

Prosecutors say Jonnala and the man he accused had been involved in a dispute over meetings and elections of their homeowners association. Jonnala, the association’s president, had filed a lawsuit over the matter, they said.

Initially, prosecutors in Chester County declined to file criminal charges against Jonnala. But the man who had been accused of abuse appealed, and Sondergaard overturned that decision. She referred the matter to the state Attorney General’s Office, which filed and prosecuted the criminal charges.