Freed molester returns to jail

May 11 , 2007

Adapted from the Bucks County Courier Times

The man swore he was rehabilitated.

Over an eight-year period, he was caught molesting 17 children — ages 4 to 14. He went to jail for 20 years, received therapy, and earned a doctorate in behavioral psychology.

He told a judge, “After years of being in prison, my life is changed.”

But he didn't change.

A jury found the 52-year-old man guilty of sexually molesting a 10-year-old boy last summer.

And if the prosecutor gets her way, he'll never have the chance to molest again. She said she'll ask the judge to sentence him to life in prison under the state's three strikes law.

The man has more than three sex crime convictions. A county judge will decide this summer whether to sentence him to at least 25 years in prison to life in prison. He's currently awaiting sentencing in county prison.

“The only way to protect children is to incarcerate him,” said the woman who prosecuted the case as head of the county district attorney's sex crimes unit.

The 52-year-old man has proven that whenever he gets out of jail, he'll prey on children again, said the prosecuting attorney. Prosecutors said as much in 1981, when he was tried for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy multiple times. Found guilty, he was given the maximum sentence of 20 years.

Back then, he was dubbed the “Rolls Royce” of sex offenders in county court. The prosecutor called him a hawk.

“I called him the hawk that kept watching and waiting and glaring through a window, waiting for an opportunity to swoop down on his prey,” she said.

Because his crimes predate Megan's Law, he didn't have to take the law's sexually violent predator assessment. If he would've qualified as a sexually violent predator, the community would've been notified of his presence, said the prosecutor.

Last summer, he was living near his most recently known victim, according to court records. He watched the boy playing basketball from his window. He called the boy over to see if he wanted to see his extensive video game collection then raped him. He then told the boy that he had a gun, and he would kill the boy if he told anyone. The assaults continued for two months until the family contacted police.

No physical or forensic evidence was submitted for trial, said the prosecutor. The man was found guilty based on the testimony of the 10-year-old.

The case is a near repeat of his past. More than 25 years ago, the man who was 25 years old at the time was unemployed and already had served almost two years in jail for sex crimes. He was acquitted in 1980 of sex charges involving an 11-year-old boy and his 8-year-old sister.

A year later, he lured a 14-year-old into his home with an electronic football game. He assaulted the boy at the youth's home, in his car and during blood drives for the American Red Cross unit where he was a volunteer.

The boy's father eventually caught the man assaulting his son.

He went to state prison. While getting therapy, he earned a master's degree in computer science and the doctorate in behavioral psychology.

“I've been going through therapy for years, and through my studies I've developed an understanding of the issues that led me here,” he told a county judge before his release.

It's unclear whether he received more counseling after prison, which experts say is crucial to preventing sex offenders from assaulting children again.

“There are significant statistics to show that treatment reduces [repeat crimes] dramatically,” said a director of outpatient services for a private psychological agency.

But not all sex offenders are required to receive counseling after prison, said a deputy chief of adult probation and parole.

Parole is not required for many offenders who complete a mandatory state sentence.

“People coming out of state correction facilities who've served their entire time come out with no supervision at all,” he said. “They may be reporting the requirements with Megan's Law. But there's no one supervising them.”

However, sex offenders on parole in the county where the 52-year-old lives are required to seek counseling.

But even then, some offenders have found ways to dodge counseling or at least take nothing from it, said the director of outpatient services at the private psychological agency.

“Sex offenders are skilled at being manipulative and deceptive. They're very narcissistic,” he said. “They are not concerned with other people or their victims so much as they are with themselves. So they're not going to do things that keep them on the right path. More often than not, they think they're OK.”