Rick Moyer/ Richard Moyer/Richard E Moyer/ Richard Eugene Moyer/ Richard E Moyer JR FINALLY arrested for child molestation
don1...@yahoo.com
Tribune Staff Writer
Richard Eugene Moyer Jr. will spend the next 25 to 75 years in prison
for molesting a relative 20 years ago and abusing at least one more
child since then, police contend.
The woman, who is now in her mid-20s, testified against Moyer, 38, in
a three-day trial that ended May 4 with two guilty verdicts, said
Berrien County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Rhoa.
A Niles Trial Court jury found Moyer guilty of two counts of first-
degree criminal sexual conduct, which carry 25- to 75-year prison
terms.
"That woman got her justice 1½ months ago," Rhoa told Judge Scott
Schofield before Moyer was sentenced Monday morning.
"This defendant needs to get his reckoning today."
The woman was about 5 years old when she was sexually assaulted in
1986 and 1987 in a Buchanan Township home, Rhoa said.
Her testimony helped put Moyer behind bars, and it spared another,
more recent, victim from enduring a trial to convict him, Rhoa said.
Fred Laesch, a Berrien County sheriff's deputy, discovered the old
sexual assault claims against Moyer when he began looking into a
recent allegation involving an 11-year-old girl in Buchanan Township.
"Every time we turned a page, it got bigger," Rhoa said about the
allegations against Moyer that came to light when Laesch started
asking questions.
During a preliminary hearing against Moyer on a 2005 criminal sexual
conduct charge, it was clear to Rhoa that the alleged victim was
traumatized.
"She tore the ears off a teddy bear she was holding while testifying
at the prelim," Rhoa said.
That's when Rhoa changed strategies and decided if the older victim
would be willing to testify against Moyer, he could spare the young
girl trauma and make Moyer account for the 1986-87 allegations.
"We found a very brave woman willing to take the stand," Rhoa said.
"We are proud of her."
Before and after he was sentenced, Moyer told Schofield the trial was
unfair because his witnesses weren't allowed to testify.
"My evidence wasn't brought before the jury. I never touched a child
in a harmful way," he said.
Rhoa said had the jury found Moyer not guilty in the 1986-87 case, he
would have tried him on the newer charge.
Because of a recent state law, there is no statute of limitations on
first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges, Rhoa said.
The parents of the latest alleged victim accused Moyer of assaulting
the girl when he baby-sat for her.
Rhoa and Schofield said Moyer should be punished and sent away to
spare future victims.
"You remain a danger to other children in the community," Schofield
told Moyer.
