Cows and children sexually assaulted - Moorestown, NJ

Wednesday, Dec 6, 2006

County: Burlington

Disposition: Dismissed

Person of Interest: Robert Melia, Jr.

Case Updates: 2 update(s) available

A Moorestown police officer who was charged earlier this month with sexually assaulting three girls faces new allegations that he performed lewd acts on animals.

Robert Melia Jr., 38, of Cottage Avenue in Moores-town was charged yesterday with four counts of cruelty to animals.

Burlington County Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Morgan said Melia committed the acts on cows in Southampton at various times from June to December 2006.

The county Prosecutor's Office declined further comment on the charges.

Melia and his former girlfriend, Heather Lewis, 32, of Stockton's Bridge Road in Pemberton Township, were each charged April 12, 2008 with three counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of second-degree sexual assault.

Since his arrest that day, Melia has been held in Burlington County Jail in Mount Holly on $500,000 bail. Yesterday, Judge John Almeida set his bail at $10,000 on the animal cruelty charges.

Lewis turned herself in at the Prosecutor's Office on April 12. She was being held yesterday in a county correctional facility on $300,000 bail. She was not charged in the animal cruelty case.

Authorities said Melia and Lewis assaulted the girls in Melia's home on multiple occasions in 2003, 2004 and 2007.

Police launched an investigation into Melia and Lewis after one of the victims told her stepfather that the two suspects had sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said. The stepfather then contacted authorities, prosecutors said.

Melia has been a resident of Moorestown since 1981 and an officer in the Moorestown Police Department since 2000. He has been suspended from the police force.

Case Updates

A Superior Court judge dismissed animal-cruelty charges against a Moorestown police officer accused of sticking his penis into the mouths of five calves in rural Southampton in 2006, claiming a grand jury couldn't infer whether the cows had been "tormented" or "puzzled" by the situation or even irritated that they'd been duped out of a meal. "If the cow had the cognitive ability to form thought and speak, would it say, 'Where's the milk? I'm not getting any milk,' " Judge James J. Morley asked. Children, Morley said, seemed "comforted" when given pacifiers, but there's no way to know what bovine minds thought of Robert Melia Jr. substituting his member for a cow's teat. "They [children] enjoy the act of suckling," the judge said. "Cows may be of a different disposition." Burlington County Assistant County Prosecutor Kevin Morgan was certainly irritated by the ruling, claiming the grand jury didn't see the videos of the alleged incident, including one in which one hungry calf allegedly head-butts Melia in the stomach. "I think any reasonable juror could infer that a man's penis in the mouth of a calf is torment," Morgan argued. "It's a crime against nature." Although a bill was introduced in 2005 to ban bestiality, New Jersey still has no explicit ban on the sexual penetration of animals, which is why the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office charged Melia with animal cruelty. Morley said it was questionable whether Melia's alleged crimes against cows, although "disgusting," fit the definitions in the animal-cruelty statute. "I'm not saying it's OK," Morley said. "This is a legal question for me. It's not a questions of morals. It's not a question of hygiene. It's not a question of how people should conduct themselves." Sex with cows is the least of Melia's problems, though. He and former girlfriend, Heather Lewis, of Pemberton Township, are also accused of sexually assaulting three young girls over a five-year period, sometimes in Melia's Cottage Avenue home in Moorestown, where he was a patrolman, authorities said. Melia has been suspended from the force, said a spokesman with the Prosecutor's Office. Melia and Lewis were both arrested in April 2008, shortly after one of the girls told her stepfather of the alleged abuse. During the course of the investigation, authorities also discovered child pornography on Melia's home computer as well as videos of him with the cows. Morley also ruled yesterday that the prosecution must turn over copies of images and videos from the computer to the defense, including one video that allegedly shows one of the girls being "subjected to sexual activity." Lewis, who also appeared in court yesterday, is also accused of sexually assaulting a juvenile male. Morley denied a defense motion to have Lewis's individual sexual assaults separated from Melia's case. Melia, Lewis and their attorneys declined to comment after the hearing. Morgan, the prosecutor, said in court that the owner of the cows was "very upset" by the incident.

Source: Philly.com - Sep 24, 2009 Update posted on Sep 24, 2009 - 5:37PM

A suspended Moorestown police officer and his girlfriend were indicted yesterday on charges they sexually assaulted three female minors over a period of eight years. Robert Melia Jr., 38, and Heather Lewis, 33, were indicted together on 45 counts that included aggravated sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child and invasion of privacy, for allegedly molesting the girls between June 2000 and January 2008. Melia was also indicted on four counts of cruelty to animals for performing sex acts on cows in Southampton in 2006. He faces additional charges of official misconduct. Melia, who was a patrolman, is free on $410,000 bail. Lewis, of Pemberton, is being held on $300,000 bail. She was also charged separately with sexually assaulting a juvenile male. The Burlington County Prosecutor's Office announced the indictment today, 5� months after authorities executed a search warrant at Melia's Cottage Avenue home and seized pornographic material and his computer. The patrolman was arrested the same day, April 12. Authorities said they filed the animal cruelty charges two weeks after Melia's arrest. According to the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office, the investigation began when the office's Child Abuse�Sexual Assault Unit was contacted after one of the victims disclosed to her stepfather she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by the defendants inside Melia's home. Melia and Lewis could spend the rest of their lives in face life in prison if convicted, authorities said.

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer - Oct 2, 2008 Update posted on Oct 2, 2008 - 8:33PM

References

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