D.A.: Man sexually assaults 6-year-old
A Montgomery County man who is a registered sex offender in Pennsylvania has been arrested on charges he molested a 6-year-old girl in early March while she was sleeping in a Colebrookdale Township home, Berks County detectives said Thursday, July 2.
Michael Forte, 44, Upper Pottsgrove Township, was apprehended without incident by township police on Wednesday, July 1, after detectives obtained an arrest warrant.
He was transported to the Berks County Courthouse, arraigned by District Judge Kyley Scott and committed to the county prison in lieu of $150,000 bail on charges of in
decent assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors.
According to Chief County Detective Michael J. Gombar:
On March 10, the Colebrookdale Township Police Department — now the Eastern Berks Regional
Police Department — responded to a residence for a report of a sexual assault on a 6-yearold girl.
The victim disclosed to the officer that, while sleeping on the couch, she was molested by the defendant. After learning police were called, Forte fled the residence.
Police filed a ChildLine report and contacted the Berks detectives with the district attorney’s office.
On March 11, detectives interviewed the girl’s mother. The mother told police that she had confronted Forte who then asked the girl, “Why did you go tell?”
On March 12, a forensic interview with the youngster was conducted at the Children’s Alliance Center in Reading. She disclosed she had been sleeping on the couch and Forte molested her.
On March 23, detectives conducted another interview with the mother. She disclosed receiving text messages from Forte that read “I don’t know what is wrong with me” and “I never wished of hurting her.”
Detectives said Forte was “already a Megan’s Law lifetime registrant.” Details of earlier cases were not available.