Ice Cream Shop Owner Abuses Girls: Police

A western Pennsylvania ice cream store owner has been charged with molesting two girls, now 11 and 13, on several occasions since 2008.

Sixty-one-year-old David Higginbotham was freed from the Allegheny County Jail after posting $50,000 bond on charges filed Thursday, when he was arrested at his Handel's Homemade Ice Cream and Yogurt store in McCandless, a suburb north of Pittsburgh.

Northern Regional police say Higginbotham was friends of the parents of the girls, who are sisters, and molested them at various events and locations -- including his home, swimming pool and a school chorus concert -- since 2008.

Police say the oldest girl told her parents about the alleged contact last week, and they called police.

Defense attorney Phil DiLucente says, “We are anxiously awaiting the preliminary hearing in this matter” but declined other comment.

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