Porn-addicted judge molested 12-year-old child with special needs, brought young boys to spend night in his office: police

A Pennsylvania judge who admits having a porn addiction sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy and routinely brought children to spend the night in his court office, authorities said Monday.

Michael Schechterly, a magisterial district judge in Perry County, is accused of molesting the special-needs victim more than eight years ago at his home, but police believe there may be other victims since the alleged perv had contact with many children in court, as part of a church program and as a former teacher.

The 58-year-old suspect initially denied groping the child, but he later admitted to touching the boy’s “groin area” at his Newport home in 2012, according to an arrest affidavit. The judge also discussed his masturbation habits during an interview with police, telling officers he regularly touched himself at the district court office, authorities said.

“When questions regarding stains on surfaces in the district court he indicated those stains would likely be his semen,” police wrote in the affidavit.

Schechterly, who was elected in 2011, appears to have used the court to victimize additional children, the investigation suggests.

Surveillance video obtained by detectives in June captured the suspect interacting with multiple children in his court office “outside of normal operating hours" despite a coronavirus lockdown that was in place at the time, police said. One of the videos showed the man holding two boys under 10 years old on his lap as one of them repeatedly tried to step off “while being prevented from doing so,” according to the affidavit.

The judge’s conduct first came under scrutiny in 2015, when police found a series of porn videos in Schechterly’s court office after learning that four boys had spent the night there, the document states. Some of the videos depicted BDSM-type sexual activity and appeared to show young girls being sexually assaulted, authorities said.

But the Perry County District Attorney’s Office chose not to press charges at the time. Police did not say what prompted that decision.

Five years later, Pennsylvania State Police reopened the case after a man who is close to the 12-year-old victim reported having suspicions about the child’s past encounters with Schechterly. The boy allegedly told the complainant that the judge “is a weird guy” who would walk around in his underwear and “was scratching his balls” when the child was at his home back in 2012.

The victim, who is now 20, confirmed to police in an interview that Schechterly did touch him inappropriately, according to the affidavit.

Authorities urged anyone with information about additional victims to call state police.

The suspect had contact with many children through a program in his church known as the “Royal Rangers,” in which he served as “Commander Mike," prosecutors said. He also taught at two different schools for about 11 years before becoming a judge.

“Serious allegations show this judge violated the trust that the citizens of Perry County placed in him by sexually abusing a little boy,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement.

Schechterly is charged with unlawful contact with children, corruption of minors and indecent assault.

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