Lawman, girlfriend charged in sex cases
They're accused of assaulting three girls over the span of several years.
A suspended Moorestown police officer and his girlfriend were indicted yesterday on charges they sexually assaulted three female minors over a period of eight years.
Robert Melia Jr., 38, and Heather Lewis, 33, were indicted together on 45 counts that included aggravated sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child and invasion of privacy, for allegedly molesting the girls between June 2000 and January 2008.
Melia was also indicted on four counts of cruelty to animals for performing sex acts on cows in Southampton in 2006. He faces additional charges of official misconduct.
Melia, who was a patrolman, is free on $410,000 bail. Lewis, of Pemberton, is being held on $300,000 bail. She was also charged separately with sexually assaulting a juvenile male.
The Burlington County Prosecutor's Office announced the indictment yesterday, 51/2 months after authorities executed a search warrant at Melia's Cottage Avenue home and seized pornographic material and his computer. The patrolman was arrested the same day, April 12.
Authorities said they filed the animal-cruelty charges two weeks after Melia's arrest.
According to the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office, the investigation began when the office's Child AbuseSexual Assault Unit was contacted after one of the victims disclosed to her stepfather that she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by the defendants inside Melia's home.
Melia and Lewis could spend the rest of their lives in prison if convicted, authorities said.
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