Bushkill Township man sentenced to more than 8 years in prison for molesting 9-year-old

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

A Bushkill Township man who molested a 9-year-old girl and tried to swallow a USB drive containing child pornography was sentenced to prison this morning.

Northampton County Judge Leonard Zito sentenced Harold Joseph Moser, 47, to four years and four months to eight years and eight months in state prison.

As part of a plea deal, Moser pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence, resisting arrest, indecent exposure, indecent assault and nine counts of possession of child pornography.

Police said they interviewed Moser in April 2011 while investigating a report that Moser molested the girl. At that time police located a laptop Moser tried to hide in his living room and later caught him attempting to swallow a USB drive. When they stopped him, Moser struggled with police and had to be shocked with a stun gun, police said.

Moser was charged days later with molesting the girl and possessing child pornography.

The victim's mother clutched a photo of her daughter in trembling hands as she called Moser a liar, manipulator, wife beater, thief and child molester. She testified she knew Moser and had looked up to him, but his crimes exposed his true nature, she said.

Moser became obsessed with having sexual relations with children, she said, and he molested her daughter just weeks after the girl's father committed suicide.

"He thinks everyone is capable of being a monster, and that's how he justifies being a monster," she said.

Assistant District Attorney Patricia Broscius asked the judge to ignore Moser's claims that he had a family waiting for him outside of prison. Moser's wife has filed for divorce and wants nothing to do with him, Broscius said, and his failure to acknowledge his wife's actions proves he's delusional.

"I don't want this court to be misled to think he has people on the outside who support him, because he does not," Broscius said of Moser, who has been designated a sexually violent predator.

Defense attorney Matthew Goodrich asked Zito to recognize that while Moser was charged with a similar crime in 2009, the charges were withdrawn. Goodrich requested that Zito not consider the first case when he made his sentence.

Zito refused, saying that being found not guilty of a crime was not the same as being innocent. The judge said the victim's mother had a "keen understanding" of Moser, and he sentenced Moser under the aggravated guidelines allowed under the law.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/nazareth/index.ssf/2012/02/bushkill_township_man_sentence.html