Guilty of underage sex abuse
Victim is Abington girl
NORRISTOWN >> A Philadelphia man was convicted by a Montgomery County jury of charges he sexually abused an underage Abington girl and now he awaits his fate from a judge.
Bruce A. Beatty, 50, of the 2100 block of Cobbs Creek, wept as the verdict was announced and the jury convicted him of charges of attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault of a child, indecent assault of a person less than 13
years of age, corruption of a minor and unlawful contact with a minor in connection with incidents that occurred at the girl’s Park Avenue residence between 2016 and 2018.
Judge Richard P. Haaz immediately revoked Beatty’s bail and he was taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies and transported to the county jail where he will remain until a sentencing hearing later this year. Haaz ordered that Beatty undergo a psychosexual evaluation prior to sentencing and court officials also will complete a background investigation report about Beatty.
Beatty faces a possible maximum sentence of 42
to 84 years in prison on the charges. However, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence.
During the two-day trial, Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Beeson argued the sexual assaults occurred when the girl was under the age of 13 and that the girl
was 12-years-old when in July 2018 she reported the assaults to her sister and mother, who then notified Abington police.
“She had the courage to make this man, Bruce Beatty, stop from ever hurting her again,” Beeson argued as he dramatically pointed at Beatty in the courtroom during the trial. “This is her moment to tell her truth. She’s going to tell this defendant, ‘You no longer have the power over me anymore.’”
But defense lawyer Abigail Silverman Leeds suggested the girl fabricated the accusations. Leeds argued there was no forensic evidence or third-party eyewitnesses to corroborate the girl’s claims.
“Bruce Beatty is a good man. He’s certainly not the monster the commonwealth would have you believe he
is,” Leeds argued during her opening statement to jurors.
Leeds also described Beatty as “a trusted and valued employee” at an area school where he worked at the time of his arrest. As she addressed jurors, Leeds did not specifically identify the school or the capacity in which Beatty worked.
Beatty knew the girl’s family and prosecutors alleged the assaults occurred on several occasions when he visited the victim’s home.
The investigation began on July 29, 2018, when the girl, accompanied by her mother, reported the incidents to Abington detectives, according to the criminal complaint filed by Abington Detective Steven Henze.
The girl, who was ages 10 to 12 at the time of the assaults, described three incidents
when she testified on Wednesday.
“I was scared. I was nauseous. I felt like I wanted to throw up,” the girl told jurors.
The girl calmly testified that one incident in April 2018 occurred while she was in her mother’s bedroom after taking a shower. The girl told detectives Beatty touched her in an inappropriate manner, exposed himself and had indecent contact with her, according to the arrest affidavit.
“The victim described Beatty as ‘a big strong man’ who scared her and she didn’t know what he might do if she resisted so she didn’t say anything during the assault,” Henze alleged in the arrest affidavit.
The girl described another incident that occurred while she was watching television on her mother’s
bed. The girl claimed Beatty entered the room and touched her inappropriately “until she got off the bed and retreated to her room,” according to the criminal complaint.
Testimony revealed the girl eventually confided in her sister about the assaults by penning a note and placing it in her sister’s room. Beeson described the note as a cry for help.
“I feel relieved that finally I said something about it,” the girl testified.
During cross examination of the girl, Leeds suggested there were numerous inconsistencies in the statements the girl gave to detectives, social workers and prosecutors and that her testimony cannot be trusted.
Beeson countered that the girl had “zero motive” to lie about the incidents.