Alvin "Chip" Rosenberger, 55, of Sellersville.
(Editor’s note: some details from the investigation are being withheld to protect the identity of the victim and their family.)
A Sellersville man with a history of prior convictions on sex charges is in custody at the Bucks County Correctional Facility after police alleged he molested his 9-year-old neighbor.
Investigators with the Perkasie Borough Police Department were contacted in April regarding the alleged sexual abuse of a young girl by her neighbor, identified as 55-year-old Alvin “Chip” Rosenberger. The girl’s parents told police they had observed messages their daughter had sent to a friend on her phone indicating that Rosenberger had attempted to have sex with her, according to charging documents.
The parents told police that Rosenberger had been their neighbor for two years, and he would occasionally take their daughter on walks around the neighborhood. After reading the messages on their daughter’s phone, they learned that Rosenberger had kissed the girl and touched her inappropriately during one of their recent walks, police said.
In an interview with the Bucks County Children Advocacy Center, the girl provided additional details, stating that while she was on a walk with Rosenberger, he took her into a neighbor’s apartment — who was hospitalized at the time — then kissed her on the mouth and touched her inappropriately, police said. Rosenberger stopped when the girl said she didn’t like what he was doing, according to the complaint.
The girl provided a description of the interior of the apartment, and upon being contacted by police, the occupant of the apartment confirmed they were hospitalized, Rosenberger had access as he was caring for their dog, and the girl had never otherwise been inside of the apartment, police said. The description of the apartment provided by the victim matched the interior of the apartment, according to police.
As a result of the investigation, Rosenberger has been charged with felony counts of aggravated indecent assault of a child, aggravated assault without consent, aggravated assault – complainant less than 16 years old, and attempted aggravated indecent assault, along with related misdemeanor offenses.
Rosenberger is being held in custody in lieu of 10% of $500,000 cash bail. His next court appearance is a preliminary hearing on June 20 at 1 p.m. in front of Magisterial District Judge Regina Armitage.
Court records show Rosenberger previously served a six-to-23-month jail sentence in February 2013 after pleading guilty to three misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure.
North Penn Now staffer Tony Di Domizio — who was the editor of the Lansdale Patch at the time of Rosenberger’s previous arrest — wrote that Rosenberger was arrested in May 20212 after repeatedly masturbating along the tree line of a female neighbor’s home along the 1600 block of North Line Street in Montgomery Township.
Rosenberger, who was facing a maximum three-to-six-year prison sentence at that time, was also sentenced to four years’ probation upon his release, court records show.
Sentencing coverage by Carl Hessler Jr. at the Pottstown Mercury indicated Rosenberger’s attorney sought a probation sentence in the case, stating a jail sentence would “cripple” Rosenberger’s contracting business. The report also states Rosenberger expressed remorse after hearing the victim’s impact statement.
“I’m very sorry for what I did, especially after I read the impact statement. I was pretty moved by her impact statement. I had no idea I hurt her that way,” Rosenberger testified, per Hessler’s report. “I don’t know what else to say.”
Further review of court records shows Rosenberger also previously pleaded guilty in 2002 to an indecent assault without consent charge, however details for that case and grading for the offense are unavailable.
Rosenberger is facing a 10 to 20 year prison sentence on the aggravated indecent assault of a child charge alone, along with a fine of up to $25,000 and a lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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