A former police chief has been convicted of raping a toddler and associated offenses in abuse the sufferer mentioned started when she was about 4 years previous and occurred a whole bunch of occasions over the next seven years.
The case in northeastern Pennsylvania’s Carbon County in opposition to former Weissport Police Chief Brent Robert Getz, 30, and a good friend of his languished for a number of years after police first realized of the allegations.
Along with the rape rely, the jury discovered Getz, of Lehighton, responsible Thursday of 1 rely every of involuntary deviate sexual activity with a toddler, aggravated indecent assault of a kid, and indecent assault of a kid beneath 12. His bail was instantly revoked and he was taken to jail.
After his 2019 arrest, Getz was fired from his job as police chief in Weissport, a city of some 400 residents 77 miles (124 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia. A message in search of remark was left for his lawyer, Brian J. Collins.
Codefendant Gregory E. Wagner Jr., 31, pleaded responsible to baby rape in November 2020 and agreed to testify in opposition to Getz. Each males, who have been adolescents when the abuse started, await sentencing.
In response to Getz’s 2019 arrest affidavit, the sufferer advised a substitute instructor at her elementary faculty in early 2012, when she was 11, that Wagner had raped her.
The Carbon County baby welfare company turned concerned, and the sufferer was interviewed by a toddler advocacy middle in Scranton. A nurse concluded the kid’s signs and accounts have been in line with sexual abuse.
Leslie Slingsby, govt director of Mission Children Youngster Advocacy Middle in East Norriton, a corporation that helps reply when baby abuse allegation are made, mentioned the sufferer “went by means of greater than he or she ever wanted to, completely.”
“These are instances which can be heartbreaking as a result of it has taken this baby so lengthy to get justice in addition to for this baby to make sure they have been protected, for kids locally to be protected,” Slingsby mentioned.
Pennsylvania enacted drastic adjustments in dealing with of kid sexual abuse instances within the wake of the Jerry Sandusky baby molestation scandal, Slingsby mentioned, “however it looks as if this could have actually been resolved earlier than that.”
A Franklin Township police officer spoke with Wagner in Might 2012, however Wagner stopped the interview after a couple of minutes and obtained a lawyer, in keeping with the affidavit.
Greater than a 12 months later, in June 2013, the identical officer once more questioned Wagner, this time together with his lawyer current, the affidavit mentioned. Wagner denied allegations and no prices have been filed.
The sufferer recorded a quick cellphone video of Wagner having her watch pornography “a number of months after the preliminary criticism was made in opposition to Wagner, as a result of no person believed her and he or she needed to indicate folks proof,” Sean McGlinn, an agent with the Pennsylvania lawyer normal’s workplace, wrote in Getz’s arrest affidavit.
Three years later, in 2015, a legal criticism was ready in opposition to Wagner however was dismissed by a district choose due to what the lawyer normal’s workplace has described as a paperwork error.
A Franklin Township officer “revisited” the case in 2018, at which period the sufferer revealed that Getz, a good friend of Wagner’s, additionally had sexually assaulted her, the lawyer normal’s workplace has mentioned.
She mentioned each males had sexually assaulted her a whole bunch of occasions, a number of occasions every week for about seven years, in keeping with the arrest affidavit.
Franklin Township Police Chief Jason Doll declined to remark, referring inquiries to state prosecutors.
In September 2018, the Carbon County district lawyer’s workplace referred the matter to the lawyer normal’s workplace relating to Getz, and in January 2019 relating to Wagner, in keeping with the charging affidavit. Wagner confessed in March 2019 to sexual assault of the kid and implicated Getz.
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