Whitpain Township Police Department. Photo by James Short.
Whitpain Township Police responded to the reports to CPS on Monday, Aug. 26
Following up on a parent’s referral to the Montgomery County Childline, Whitpain Township Police discovered a caretaker allegedly abusing a disabled child in the family’s Blue Bell home.
Police reported that around 3:15 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 26, they responded to the referral when a Blue Bell mother reported, around 2 p.m. that same day, that her 17-year-old daughter’s caretaker was behaving “inappropriately” in her Whitpain Township home. The child is non-verbal and suffers from severe disabilities, according to reports.
The caretaker, Glen J. Laepple, 63, of an apartment on the 400 block of Blair Mill Road in Hatboro, was reported when the mother told police he was “doing something” to her daughter, police said. She said that she had seen Laepple touching the child inappropriately and “on one occasion [Laepple’s] pants were down,” reports stated.
On previous occasions, a camera in the home in the child’s room was nonfunctioning. However, on Monday, Aug. 26, police said, the mother was able to make the camera operable. According to reports, once Laepple arrived, the mother went to the family’s kitchen and observed Laepple on a connected computer device. She reported that, while observing him, she saw Laepple on two occasions pull up the girl’s shirt and rub both of her breasts. On another occasion, according to her report to police, “kiss her lips with his for a few seconds.”
Police said that after witnessing the behavior on camera, the mother asked Laepple to leave the home, reporting his actions to his company. Reports noted that there was no medical condition that would “require him to rub her breasts numerous times.”
Police observed the surveillance videos provided by the mother, which were saved on the computer device. The dates and times, according to reports, were shown on each video. Responding officers said that they too observed Laepple on two different occasions pull up the girl’s shirt, rub both of her breasts, and on one occasion kiss her lips with his for a few seconds.
Laepple is charged with three misdemeanor charges of indecent assault without the consent of the other person, indecent assault of a person with a mental disability, and endangering the welfare of a child, as well as one felony charge of unlawful contact with a minor/sexual offense. He was arraigned on Tuesday, and is slated for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 5 in the court of Magisterial District Court Justice Suzan Leonard at 9:30 a.m. He is being held in county jail, unable to post a $100,000 monetary bail.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
