DA: Bucks man is a serial child sex predator

Bucks County authorities paint Walter Meyerle as a serial sexual predator of children.

So far, the Falls Township man has been charged in only one case - accused of repeated rape and other sexual assaults on a 15-year-old girl.

But in announcing that arrest Thursday, District Attorney David Heckler said Meyerle soon will face charges in an undisclosed number of cases under investigation involving other underage victims.

He was charged now, Heckler said, to get him off the street. And the district attorney said he called a news conference to publicize the arrest because he thinks there are even more victims who have yet to emerge.

Police in several lower Bucks County municipalities "have strong reason to believe that Mr. Meyerle has victimized a number of other young people of both sexes," Heckler said. "This is the time for those people to come forward."

Meyerle, 34, professed his innocence at a court arraignment and later to reporters as he was led out of district court in Bristol.

Meyerle said the charges "are pretty serious, but there's nothing to back it up. We'll see who's guilty." Asked what he expected out of the case, he said, "Maybe an apology."

For now, Meyerle is accused of repeated assaults on a Bristol Township girl, beginning when she was 14.

Meyerle knew the girl's family and groomed her through a social networking website and calls on a cell phone she was given for her birthday, a court affidavit said.

The girl told investigators that she and Meyerle had phone sex about 50 times while her parents were asleep and had sexual intercourse at least four times at his house.

Even after the girl's parents confiscated her cell phone, Meyerle gave her prepaid phones to stay in contact. Last spring, the girl said, Meyerle illegally gave her a star tattoo on her pelvis in return for sex acts.

The tattoo includes Meyerle's first initial - W - the affidavit said. The girl's mother contacted police in February after discovering the tattoo and learning that Meyerle and her daughter had been exchanging phone calls.

Meyerle was charged with multiple counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor, statutory sexual assault, and unlawful use of a communications facility, all felonies. He also faces misdemeanor counts of indecent assault, corruption of minors, and giving a tattoo to an underage person.

District Judge Frank Peranteau set Meyerle's bail at $1 million and ordered him held until he posts 10 percent of that amount.

Meyerle, who is married, has prior convictions for making harassing phone calls, domestic assault, drug possession, drunken driving, and disorderly conduct. He told Peranteau that he is unemployed and disabled, though prosecutors said he works as a tattoo artist.

Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Schorn requested a high bail amount because some of the charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 to 20 years, because of Meyerle's criminal record, and because he "poses a serious threat to the community at large. He almost certainly is facing additional charges," she told Peranteau.

Meyerle expressed bewilderment at Schorn's statements.

"Excuse me, can I say something?" he blurted out. "None of my record has anything to do with children.

"I'm not a risk to anyone but myself," he told Peranteau. "I don't understand 90 percent of this."