Crime & Safety

Ex-GOP Chairman Drugged, Raped Employee: DA [UPDATE]

Robert J. Kerns resigned his post as leader of the Republican Party in Montgomery County after a sex assault investigation was reported.

Former Montgomery County Republican Committee Chairman Robert J. Kerns has been arrested for rape of an unconscious person and related charges after an alleged sexual assault that occurred in late October, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.

Kerns, 66, who led the GOP from 2008 through Nov. 15 when he resigned after the sexual assault investigation was reported, was charged with 19 felony and misdemeanor criminal counts, including felony rape of an unconscious victim, felony rape of a substantially impaired person, felony sexual assault, felony aggravated indecent assault without consent, possession of an instrument of crime with intent, and possession of a controlled substance.

Kerns is also charged with felony aggravated indecent assault where the complainant is unconscious or unaware that penetration is occuring; felony aggravated indecent assault where the charged impairs the complainant; two counts of indecent assault without consent; two counts of indecent assault where the person is unconscious; two counts of indecent assault where the person is substantially impaired; reckless endangerment; simple assault; possession of a controlled substance; felony drug possession with intent to deliver; lying to police and tampering with evidence, per court records.

According to Ferman, Kerns and the victim, and employee at his Upper Gwynedd law firm, were at a work celebration at Radice restaurant in Whitpain township on Oct. 25. Around 6 p.m., Kerns offered the victim a ride to King of Prussia and allegedly encouraged her to drink from a bottle of wine that he had secretly drugged with Ambien.

Ferman says that the victim lost consciousness, and Kerns raped and sexually abused her while in his car; the assault was allegedly so violent that it cause severe genital injuries and other injuries to multiple parts of her body.

Ferman alleges that the victim began to regain consciousness as the defendant drove closer to her neighborhood, and remembers the last few turns to her house. Once at her house, the victim said Kerns took her upstairs, and she laid on her bed. While on the bed, Kerns allegedly removed her clothes without her consent and allegedly sexually abused her once more before leaving her home.

A urine sample of the victim was submitted to Quest Diagnostics for laboratory testing, which tested positive for the presence of Ambien, according to Ferman.

The incident occurred just one day after Kerns announced a truce among warring factions in the Republican Party, which had impacted the party for decades.


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