Upper Providence man admits to child rape
NORRISTOWN >> An Upper Providence man who was previously convicted of indecent exposure was back in a courtroom this week where he admitted to sexually assaulting an underage girl who was in his care on multiple occasions.
Richard Alan Beener Sr., 61, of the 600 block of Bridge Street in the Mont Clare section of the township, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to two felony counts of rape of a child in connection with incidents that occurred between 2003 and 2009
and which involved a girl who was under the age of 13.
The open plea means Beener has no deals with prosecutors regarding his eventual sentence. Beener faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison on the charges, however, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence.
Judge Todd D. Eisenberg deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigation report about Beener who will remain in the county jail without bail pending his sentencing hearing.
Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Beeson vowed to seek a lengthy prison sentence against Beener.
“We will be seeking as long of a state prison sentence as we can get,” Beeson said on Thursday, adding he will seek consecutive prison terms for the two counts of child rape.
“It’s a breach of trust. It’s a sexual predator who took advantage of a young girl who was left alone with him on multiple occasions,” Beeson added.
Regardless the eventual sentence he receives, as a result of the guilty plea, Beener will face a lifetime requirement to report his address to state police in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.
According to court documents, the most recent investigation of Beener began in September 2018 when a 21-year-old woman reported to Upper Providence detectives that Beener sexually abused her on multiple occasions when she was between the ages of six and 12 and in Beener’s company at various locations in the township. Most of the incidents occurred between 2003 and 2009 while she was visiting Beener’s home, according to the criminal complaint filed by Upper Providence Detective Shea S. Johnson.
The abuse included various sexual acts and inappropriate touching and Beener sometimes used “the promise of toys or gifts” during the incidents, according to the arrest affidavit. Beener also masturbated in view of the girl, who resided in Chester County, and showed her pornographic movies, detectives said.
“Richard Beener would give the victim United States currency, specifically quarters and twenty dollar bills and would instruct the victim not to tell anyone about the sexual assault incidents,” Johnson alleged in the criminal complaint.
It’s not the first time Beener has been in trouble with the law.
In January 2016, Beener, then 55, was sentenced in county court to two years’ probation after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of indecent exposure in connection with a June 2014 incident near his home.
With that guilty plea, Beener admitted that he exposed his genitals in a public place, in view of others, under circumstances in which he knew or should have known that the conduct was likely to offend or alarm others.
An investigation of Beener began about 6:30 p.m. June 6, 2014, when a woman notified Upper Providence police that Beener had exposed himself to her and her toddler daughter while he was standing naked behind a closed glass storm door of his home, according to the 2014 criminal complaint. The victim told police she observed Beener expose and grope his genitals while looking in the direction of her toddler daughter.
“(The victim) related that she yelled and Richard Beener backed away from the doorway, disappearing into the residence,” detectives alleged in the arrest affidavit at the time.
The woman sent her daughter away from the area, police said. When Beener reappeared at his door, fully clothed, the woman confronted him and yelled about his exposing himself in view of her daughter. Beener allegedly denied the conduct, claiming he was “simply trying to give her a balloon,” according to the 2014 arrest affidavit.