Wayne Church Member Accused by Youths of Sexual Abuse
By Rose Quinn
An Upper Providence man is facing charges he sexually abused two young men who considered him a mentor, according to court documents.
David Sperry, 44, of the 100 block of Park Place, surrendered Thursday at Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division headquarters on 29 offenses relating to allegations made by the two alleged victims, now 21 and 18, who had been around the ages of 13 and 15 respectively when the alleged sexual abuse began.
Sexual contact with the 18-year-old occurred as recently as when he was 17, according to documents.
Documents do not indicate what prompted the victims to come forward, only that one of the victims was interviewed on June 10 — a week after his 21st birthday.
At the time of the interview with Detective John Kelly, he said he had been a victim of sexual abuse since the age of 12 or 13, and he identified Sperry as his abuser, according to the affidavit of probable cause for arrest.
The 21-year-old man said he first met Sperry in 2004 or 2005, when they were both members of The Church of the Savior in Wayne, according to the affidavit penned by Kelly. The affidavit does not depict Sperry as having any role with the church, only that he and the 21-year-old victim had met there as members.
Over time, the 21-year-old man said, “They developed a friendship and he also thought of him as a mentor,” according to the affidavit.
He went on to recall a church-sponsored retreat in the Poconos when he was 12 or 13, where he was taught by Sperry about “wedgies and other semi-sexual play,” including touching and fondling his private areas over clothing, the document states.
According to the affidavit, it was during a visit to Valley Forge Park in Chester County when he was about 13 that he and Sperry went skinny dipping in a secluded area of the park. While in the water, according to the affidavit, Sperry rubbed his penis up against the alleged victim’s penis.
He said he went to the park with Sperry on other occasions as well, “and the same type of sexual incidents occurred,” the affidavit states.
The victim recalled alleged incidents at Sperry’s home in Upper Providence, as well as two locations in Philadelphia, when he was 13 to 14 years of age. He described acts including masturbating each other, and Sperry performing oral sex on him, the affidavit states. On one occasion in Philadelphia, he alleged Sperry had been tutoring him math when he started touching his penis.
Another man, now 18, said he was between the ages of 13 and 17 when he was mentored by Sperry. The affidavit does not indicate how he and Sperry met.
When he was between the ages of 15 and 17, he alleges he had been sexually abused by Sperry no fewer than three times, the affidavit states. The 18-year-old man said Sperry would give him alcoholic beverages and sexually abuse him “by means of unwanted and unsolicited genital touching and fondling,” the affidavit states.
The 18-year-old man said the first sexual abuse incident occurred at a residence in Trefyffrin Township, Chester County, when he was a sophomore in high school.
Prior to that incident, he said, “Sperry had given him massages of his legs, thighs, shoulders and chest area, which he did not object to but sometimes felt uncomfortable with,” the affidavit states.
Recalling the incident in Chester County, the 18-year-old said that he was lying in a bed and Sperry knocked on the closed bedroom door, and attempted to engage the then high school sophomore in conversation.
Sperry entered the room, turned on the light, sat in a chair and began a conversation. Then, he started giving the alleged victim a chest massage and eventually placed his hand under his boxer shorts and touched his genitals, the affidavit states.
The 18-year-old also recalled another incident that occurred while he was a junior in high school. That time, Sperry started out giving him a foot massage and moved his hands up the victim’s legs, eventually touching his penis, the affidavit states.
Another alleged incident occurred during the victim’s senior year, while staying at a Holiday Inn in Maine, where Sperry supplied him with wine before the sexual assault occurred. According to the affidavit, the victim and Sperry were on the bed when Sperry began to rub his feet, his shoulders and then his genital area.
The victim told the investigator the genital touching was unwanted and that he moved away from Sperry, pretending to be asleep.
Charges against Sperry include one count each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse; sexual assault; indecent exposure; statutory sexual assault; eight counts each of indecent assault involving a person less than 16 years of age and corruption of minors; seven counts of unlawful contact with a minor; two counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor.
Sperry remains incarcerated at the county prison, where he was remanded in lieu of 10 percent of $200,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is listed for Aug. 6.
Online court records list Joseph Lesniak at Sperry’s attorney. A message left on Lesniak’s office voicemail after business hours Monday was not immediately returned.
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