A judge has ordered a mental competency hearing for a Pine Township man accused of sexually molesting a girl.

Attorneys for Richard Carroll, 37, of 447 Irishtown Road, and the U.S. Attorney's Office, Pittsburgh, are working out details for a doctor to examine Carroll before the hearing, said a spokesman for U.S. District Court Judge William L. Standish.

Standish ordered the evaluation at a hearing Thursday, the spokesman said.

At an August hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tina O. Miller said Carroll had threatened to kill her, the 15-year-old victim and his girlfriend, Sharon Dorsch, who is a co-defendant in the case, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Ms. Miller claimed Carroll is "obsessed" with her.

She also played a recording of a telephone call in which Carroll threatened to harm people, including his mother, if he was released from prison.

Carroll's attorney, public defender W. Penn Hackney, argued that Carroll is being treated for bipolar disorder and is not dangerous to anyone, the Post-Gazette reported.

Carroll was indicted in January on charges of sexual exploitation of a minor. He molested and took nude photographs of the girl between December 1999 and May 2000 in Penn Hills, officials said. The girl was 11 years old at the time.

Carroll drugged the girl with Valium, had sex with her and forced her to watch while he had sex with Ms. Dorsch, officials said.

Ms. Dorsch, 42, of Pittsburgh, has been charged with failing to prevent the abuse and trying to prevent Carroll from being arrested. She has been released, while Carroll remains in custody.

Gerald Goebert, 49, of Pittsburgh, pleaded guilty in March to possessing three computer files of the girl. He was sentenced in June to 27 months in prison.