Herald - lantern - Dispatch 19 )une '85 5

Del Haven Man Charged With Molesting Children

DEL HAVEN - Middle township police have arrested a 66-year-old retired bookkeeper and charged him with seven counts of sexual contact with children — boys and girls — aged 8-13. John O'Neal of Lafayette Avenue is being held in county prison in lieu of $35,000 bail, police said, charged with "sexual contact. not sexual penetration." Police said they have a list of 25 children O'Neal was "associated with." They have interviewed 15 and still have to talk to 10. The seven charges, plus two "pending," result from the first interviews, they said. "Most of the children didn't understand anything was wrong," police said. AT A TUESDAY MORNING press conference in the township municipal building, police laid out this scenario. They said O'Neal was a "typical pedophile" who probably has at least a 30-year history of fondling and photographing children for sexual gratification. They based that on a photo album they found "probably dating back to 1955." O'Neal also was involved with the Boy Scouts for 40 years, police said, and some of the children "may have been in his troop. " O'Neal was described as "a pillar in the community." "I've known the man for 15 years," said Det. Sgt. Walter Oliver who led the press conference. O'Neal also was a member of the Child Placement Review Board, a volunteer group under the county Probation Department, appointed by the court, to review placements by the state Division of Youth and Family Service (DYFS). MAYOR MICHAEL VOLL said O'Neal recently led a Boy Scout tour of township facilities and was commended for his participation. "A true pedophile has got to be involved where the kids are," explained police. Police received their first complaint about O'Neal about a year ago, but, untrained in child molestation, did not realize its significance, they said. But another parent complaint last March 15 set off the Investigation. They

began surveilling McNeal's home in an effort to get enough evidence for a search warrant. They received a second complaint from a parent who found correspondence between O'Neal and her 10-year-old daughter. "It was a 66-year-old man trying to start a courtship with a 10-year-old girl," said police. A BREAK CAME last Thursday, police said, when a school nurse and counselor at Elementary School No. 3 in Court House observed a photo album brought to school by a child. They contacted Marie Hayes, investigator in the county prosecutor's office. The photos, police said, were of fully clothed children in poses that might only be considered suggestive by a pedophile or an expert on child molestation. The album, plus the results of some interviews, justified the search warrant, they said. In O'Neal's home, police found 1,391 photos of children, "in a very neatlykept photo collection." Police Capt. Raymond Saunders said some of the photos might bring as much as $25 from a pedophile. O'NEAL. FULLY CLOTHED, was in some of the photos, police said, but they do not know if the pictures were taken by an adult accomplice, or by other children. The photos showed children and McNeal, "on the bed, arms around each other." Pedophiles use such photos, policed said, "to fantasize." Police said O'Neal first gained the friendship of the children, then in effect bribed them with gifts of snacks and trips to places like fast-food restaurants or amusement parks. Police said O'Neal would have children in his house "14 hours a day, every day of the week." As the children reached teen age, police said, O'Neal would "weed them out and pick out a lower age." POLICE SAID O'NEAL is not married and never has been, "to our knowledge." They said he lived in Wildwood prior to moving to Del Haven. Saunders said he "interviewed a parent this morn-

ing," who had been "socializing" with O'Neal for the past 10 years. "She ( the parent ) had no inclination her child was involved," he said. "I can't understand how some parents still remain that naive."Det. Sgt. Oliver, three television cameras recording his words, "said this was "a major case as far as Cape May Court House." Also at the press conference were investigator Hayes and Cpl. Fred Teasenfitz, the youth officer who made the arrest and filed the charges Saturday night.

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