By Larry King
Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted on Sat, May. 14, 2011
The alleged crimes, filling 14 single-spaced pages, are a study in sexual depravity and child abuse.
To prosecutor Jennifer Schorn, the charges filed Friday against unemployed Bucks County tattoo artist Walter Meyerle amount to "one of the largest child-abuse cases I've seen by one individual."
Bensalem Public Safety Director Fred Harran took it a rhetorical step further. "I'd like to see him in a room with SEAL Team Six for five minutes. Let them take care of it," he said, referring to the commandos who killed Osama bin Laden.
Meyerle, 34, of Falls Township, stands accused of 195 crimes - most felony sexual assaults - involving 14 children.
Prosecutors claim the attacks occurred over a 10-year period, involving victims ranging in age from 4 to 17. Two were boys. At least one girl said she had become pregnant and had an abortion.
Allegations against Meyerle were first reported to police as far back as 2003, court records show, yet no arrests were made.
The difference, Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said Friday, is that some victims, once reluctant to prosecute, now have a sense of "strength in numbers."
They were emboldened, Heckler said, by reports in March that Meyerle had been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.
Knowing that Meyerle had been suspected of other assaults, authorities called a news conference to urge others to come forward.
In disturbing droves, that call was answered, authorities said Friday.
The result is a tale of alleged sexual opportunism, in which Meyerle is accused of molesting and having sex with children in Bristol, Bensalem, and other lower Bucks communities. Many were related to adults he knew or, in some cases, was dating.
Some were groomed by Meyerle because they came from unstable homes, their parents beset by substance abuse or other problems, Schorn said.
Sex offenders "prey upon some of our most vulnerable members of society," she said. "I believe that is why he has been able to get away with this for so long."
Small children were attracted by calculated kindnesses bestowed on them by Meyerle, Schorn said.
"The children saw someone who had, as one victim described it, 'some of the coolest things a boy could ever imagine' - a monster truck, a pet lizard," she said. With each victim, "he adapted what he needed to do to sexually abuse" them. FULL STORY
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