Pennsylvania

Serial Child Rapist Gets 60 to 100 Years in Prison

William Thomas is accused of sexually assaulting at least seven underage girls during a period that spans several decades.

Editor's note: This story contains graphic details.

As a judge called him a "monster" and his home a "house of sexual horrors," a child rapist in Bucks County was sentenced to 60 to 100 years in prison Monday afternoon.

William Charles Thomas' victims said they were relieved that he would spend the rest of his life in prison.

"I'm happy he will never harm another child as long as he lives," said a relative of one victim.

Thomas, 59, of Morrisville, pleaded no contest or guilty Monday to a host of charges, including multiple counts of child rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, aggravated indecent assault of a child and corruption of minors.

Prosecutors said the crimes stretched back decades and that it was possible there were more victims than the seven who have been discovered. 

In court, testimony revealed that when Thomas was arrested he had girls' underwear tucked into his pants. Prosecutors displayed photos of sex toys, child porn and more underwear, some labelled with the names of girls, which Thomas had kept. He also wrote and drew pictures of graphic abuse.

His victims spoke out in court, calling him "monster" and the "boogie man."

One girl's father said his family had trusted Thomas, even giving him food and money to pay his heating bills. "And you paid us back by molesting our daughters," the father said.

Thomas apologized in court, but the judge said he believed Thomas was only sorry he was caught.

Thomas was captured after a woman told investigators she interacted with Thomas in the mid to late 1990s at his Pleasant Lane home, his Falls Township home, his Pennsbury Woods apartment and a home in Yardley. Police say in addition to sexually abusing her, Thomas also showed her child pornography, watched her as she took showers, gave her marijuana, groped her and professed his love for her.

Thomas is also accused of sexually assaulting at least six other underage girls throughout the years in Bucks County including two sisters who spoke out at the beginning of March.

Falls Township Police zeroed in on Thomas in November of 2016 after receiving a call about sexually explicit writings found on a piece of plywood at the Midway Village mobile home park, said a criminal complaint obtained by NBC10 that contains graphic details of alleged assaults. Thomas had worked as a handyman on a vacant trailer and a new owner found the words describing the sexual assault of two young girls, including names, physical descriptions, parents' names and a date of an alleged assault — Christmas 2014 — police said.

Investigators searched Thomas' home at Midway Village and found more than 1,000 prominently displayed photographs and pictures that "depicted naked children, the majority of which were prepubescent" and some that chronicled "molesting," according to the criminal complaint.

Investigators also found writings dating back to the 1970s that documented molestation of children as young as 3 years old, police said.

The search also uncovered drug paraphernalia and baggies that tested positive for marijuana and methamphetamine.

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