Ex-Bensalem Physicist Convicted for Sexually Abusing a Child, 9



 

Digital Reporter – Jeff Bohen

A Bucks County jury has convicted a New Jersey man of sexually abusing a young girl when he was a Bensalem resident, the Bucks County District Attorney’s office announced Friday.

Thomas Padikal, 71, was found guilty of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, aggravated indecent assault of a child and related crimes stemming from his years-long abuse of a girl beginning around 2007 when she was 8 years old, officials said.

The abuse occurred on a nearly daily basis for more than two years until the victim moved away and Padikal no longer had access to her.

Padikal remained in the area for several years where he worked as a physicist in the fields of radiology and oncology before eventually moving to New Jersey, the DA’s office said.

Both in text messages sent to the victim last year as well as a phone call recorded by Bensalem Township Police, Padikal told the now-adult victim he had “sacrificed” himself for her sexual education,  police wrote in court documents upon Padikal’s original arrest.

The defendant has managed to rationalize the unthinkable,” argued Deputy District Attorney Kristin McElroy. “He never banked on [the victim]’s bravery. He never banked on justice.”

In the ensuing years Padikal followed the victim on social media, created a website on which he enshrined his obsession with the victim and kept a PowerPoint file containing numerous pornographic images depicting the victim’s face crudely superimposed on the bodies of grown women, court documents show.

Investigators arrested Padikal in November with the assistance of New Jersey State Police, court records show.

The jury, having heard from the victim, viewed Padikal’s messages and heard the recorded phone call among other evidence, delivered its verdict after less than a half hour of deliberation.

Testimony lasted about two and a half days.

Following the jury’s verdict, Judge Raymond F. McHugh revoked Padikal’s bail and deferred sentencing approximately 60 days for a mental health assessment and pre-sentence investigation. Padikal will await sentencing behind bars.

The case was investigated by the Bensalem Township Police Department with assistance from the Bucks County Detectives and prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Kristin McElroy.