by peter e. bortner
Robert L. Raeder Jr., whose sexual transgressions remained undiscovered until a roadside cleanup crew found evidence of them, admitted Wednesday in Schuylkill County Court that he raped a young girl and took pictures of another in 2001 in Tamaqua.
Raeder, 46, of Tamaqua, pleaded guilty to five sex-related charges, including rape. Prosecutors withdrew five other sex-related charges, including two counts each of improper contact with minors and indecent assault and one of indecent exposure.
Judge John E. Domalakes accepted Raeder's plea and, pursuant to an agreement between prosecutors and the defendant, sentenced Raeder to serve 10 to 20 years in a state correctional institution, pay costs, $50 to the Criminal Justice Enhancement Account and $90 restitution to the state police crime laboratory in Bethlehem and submit a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities.
Domalakes also ruled Raeder is a sexually violent predator and imposed lifetime Megan's Law sanctions on him.
He made the sentence concurrent to one Raeder is serving in federal prison on child pornography charges, which arose from the same evidence.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer N. Lehman told Domalakes that police and the victims' family members agreed with the plea and sentence.
Raeder already is an inmate at U.S. Penitentiary Marion in Illinois, and the court conducted the hearing by videoconference. He said he understood the plea and that it was voluntary, and he also agreed to waive his right to an evaluation by the state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board to aid in determining whether he is a sexually violent predator.
State police at Frackville charged Raeder with committing the crimes between June 1, 2001, and Sept. 1, 2001, at two locations in Tamaqua.
Police said Raeder raped the one girl, who was 5 years old, and photographed the other, who was less than 5 years old.
Those incidents came to light April 29, 2012, when a community cleanup crew along Valley Road in Walker Township uncovered 53 Polaroid pictures depicting child nudity and sexual assault, police said.
The state police Computer Crimes Unit converted the images into digital format and a CD was submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
On Oct. 23, 2012, a Request for Identification was given to local media outlets and printed in The Republican-Herald.
Two days later, on Oct. 25, 2012, the biological parents of a girl in the photos contacted police and, after being interviewed individually, confirmed the child was their daughter and that at the time of the photos, she was between 3 and 5 years old.
Raeder pleaded guilty on May 7, 2013, in U.S. District Court in Scranton to production of child pornography. Senior U.S. District Judge Richard P. Conaboy sentenced him Sept. 12 to spend 121 months in prison and three additional years on supervised release and comply with sex offender registration requirements.
Federal authorities alleged that between January 2001 and December 2012, Raeder produced pornographic videos and other images and maintained them on his computer.
A forensic examination of Raeder's computer revealed the images and videos, according to prosecutors.
Lehman and Frederick J. Fanelli, Pottsville, Raeder's lawyer, each declined to comment on the case after Wednesday's hearing.
The Megan's Law sanctions to which Raeder will be subject include requirements that he report his address, employment and educational statuses and any change in them to state police for life after he leaves prison. Any failure to comply with those sanctions is a crime in itself and could result in further prosecution.
Megan's Law was enacted in Pennsylvania, numerous other states and at the federal level following the 1994 murder of Megan Nicole Kanka, 7, of Hamilton Township, Mercer County, N.J., Jesse Timmendequas, Kanka's killer, was a convicted sex offender and one of the girl's neighbors.
He is serving a life sentence following then-New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine's commutation of his death sentence after that state abolished its death penalty.Defendant: Robert L. Raeder Jr.
Age: 46
Residence: Tamaqua
Crimes committed: Five sex-related offenses
Prison sentence: Ten to 20 years in a state correctional institution