Lawyer concedes attacks on 6 girls
Larry Charles pleaded no contest. He may get a long term for assaults, some at the Criminal Justice Center.
By Dwight Ott
Inquirer Staff Writer
His plea, which came as trial was about to start yesterday before Common Pleas Court Judge Albert Stallone, means the lawyer may face a lengthy prison term. Assistant District Attorney James Carpenter said he would ask for a sentence of 25 to 50 years.
Charles' $25 million bail was revoked, and he will remain in custody pending his sentencing, which was set for Dec. 20.
Stallone, who is from Berks County, was brought in to hear the case because Charles is well known in the Criminal Justice Center.
"The offenses occurred in this courthouse, where justice was supposed to be dispensed; instead, he was raping some of the most vulnerable people," Carpenter said. "There's no telling the trauma they faced."
The girls testified that the assaults occurred in motels in New Jersey, Charles' office on Woodland Avenue, a Commerce Bank deposit vault room, and in the Criminal Justice Center.
Charles, according to Carpenter, groomed his victims - befriending them, buying them things, then touching them while on outings. Two of the girls were daughters of a woman Charles dated and by whom he had two children of his own (now that's what I call efficiency).
Carpenter said several of the children were from impoverished families whose members became dependent on Charles for money and assistance.
Charles, 50, was arrested Jan. 15, after a sheriff's deputy found the lawyer and the partially clad 14-year-old girl inside the lawyers' lounge of the Criminal Justice Center. At the time, much of the building was closed in observance of Martin Luther King's Birthday. The girl later testified that he touched her breasts and she touched his genitals.
After news of the arrest became widely known, five other girls, ages 11 to 17, came forward and testified that Charles had assaulted them. The assaults had been going on, in some cases, for years.
Yesterday, Charles, dressed in a black pullover shirt and black jeans, pleaded no contest to three counts of rape, two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, one count of aggravated indecent assault, six counts of indecent assault, three counts of unlawful contacts with minors, and one count of criminal trespass for the attack inside the Criminal Justice Center.
His attorney, Angelo Cameron, said his client pleaded no contest in "acceptance of responsibility and remorse on the part of his client."
"My client alleviated the courts from a lengthy two- to three-week trial," Cameron said.
Carpenter was unsympathetic. "He had no defense," he said. "The evidence was compelling - reams of collaborating evidence."
None of the victims was in court yesterday.
One of Charles' aunts, Gladys Charles, 74, did attend the hearing. She sighed as she heard some of the evidence against her nephew read into the record.
"He should have known better," she said later. "His mother put him through the best of schools."
She said the defendant's mother - her sister - was unable to attend the trial because of poor health.
"She has a bad heart condition and couldn't stand it," she said, adding: "I'm still proud of him. He's my nephew. He's blood."
.......sweetheart, that's blood you can keep !!
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