Chalfont man gets up to 20 years for abusing girl, 11, and disabled woman, 96

A Chalfont man was sentenced Wednesday to 6½ to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing a mentally disabled elderly woman and a young girl, officials said.

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said Robert Timothy Shimer, 65, pleaded no contest Wednesday to criminal charges including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a mentally disabled person, indecent assault of an 11-year-old, and related counts.

Judge Raymond F. McHugh accepted the plea negotiation and imposed the sentence, adding a concurrent five-year term of probation.

“Robert Shimer preyed upon the most vulnerable — an elderly woman and a young child,” said Deputy District Attorney Kristin McElroy, the prosecutor who handled the case. “I commend the work of the Central Bucks Police Department for their investigation to helped bring justice for this family.”

According to a criminal complaint, Shimer’s wife caught her husband standing over the 96-year-old woman on a couch and making sexually explicit statements as he assaulted her. She also reported seeing him earlier standing in front of the victim with his pants down.

While investigating Shimer’s abuse of the 96-year-old woman last year, Central Bucks Regional Police discovered a 1999 investigation involving Shimer that had never been closed. In reexamining that case, investigators determined Shimer had molested a female victim who was then 11 years old.