More trouble for man accused of trading tattoo work for sex

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Ben Finley - The Intelligencer Staff writer




FALLS - The number of his alleged victims could fill a classroom.

Walter Meyerle, an unemployed tattoo artist from Falls, will be charged today with sex crimes involving 16 children - some below the age of 10, District Attorney David Heckler said Thursday.

Meyerle, 34, of East Penn Valley Road, has been in jail since March after allegedly trading tattoo work for sex and other sex-related charges involving a 15-year-old girl.

Bristol Township police said they arrested him as fast as they could two months ago just to get him off the street. Bail was set at $1 million.

Since then, more victims have come forward after reading media reports, Heckler said Thursday.

"It's very clear to us that because of the press coverage, a number of other victims came forward, some who had never made any report and others who made initial reports but were reluctant to proceed with the matter," Heckler said.

Meyerle's victims were courageous for coming forward, he added.

The suspect will face an additional 195 criminal counts, Heckler said. The court documents will be released today.

Authorities said Meyerle knew his victims through friends and family.

For the case filed in March involving the 15-year-old girl, Meyerle was charged with giving her a tattoo in her pelvic area in exchange for sexual intercourse, which they had many times as well as phone sex, court records show.

Meyerle was charged then with two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse - and 10 counts of unlawful contact with a minor, both first-degree felonies punishable by up to 20 years in prison apiece. He also faces several related charges and a misdemeanor count of tattooing the girl under age 18.

For that case alone, Meyerle faces a maximum prison sentence of more than 300 years if convicted on all counts.

After his arrest in March, Meyerle denied the charges to Bristol District Judge Frank Peranteau, who had set his bail at $1 million.

"I'm no risk to anyone but myself," he told the judge. "I don't understand 90 percent (of the charges)."

While he was being led away to jail, he told the newspaper: "There's nothing to back it up. This isn't the first time this family has accused me of doing some crazy stuff. So, in the end, we'll see who's guilty."

He had said he expected an apology when the ordeal is over.

Meyerle's Middletown-based defense attorney, Richard Fink, said on Thursday of the new charges: "All I can say is I have 16 times as much work to do to prove he is innocent."

[Fodster]

:sickfucker:

[deebakes]