Credit: Falls Police
A 54-year-old Yardley man who is the focus of a Falls Township police investigation into the alleged sexual assault of a child pleaded guilty Friday to stealing more than $55,000 in Social Security benefits meant for his own daughter.
Harry F. Lawrence III pleaded guilty to a single count of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received.
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A county judge agreed to postpone his sentencing in the case until after a late February preliminary hearing on the charges related to a case where Falls authorities allege he sexually assaulted a young girl more than 10 years ago inside the day care his ex-wife operated.
According to a press release from the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office:
From February 2008 through February 2015, Lawrence received Social Security benefit payments totaling $58,680 as the representative payee for his daughter, who is now 15. All of the money, which was provided because of Lawrence’s physical inability to work and provide for his daughter, should have gone to support the child, who lived primarily elsewhere. Instead, he kept all but $2,830 of it for himself.
Lawrence appeared in court in a wheelchair. He told Bucks County Judge Rea B. Boylan, who accepted the plea, that he had recently undergone back surgery and suffered from a lower-leg condition known as drop foot.
Lawrence, who is divorced, should not have received any of the money intended for the child. In completing a government application for the benefits, he falsely claimed that he had primary custody of his daughter. Investigators found that a 2006 custody order out of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas had given primary custody to Lawrence’s ex-wife. The child resided with Lawrence only on weekends during the school year, specified days during the summer, and alternating holidays.
That arrangement did not change throughout the time that Lawrence received the Social Security payments. Each year, he would file annual reports in which he falsely stated that his daughter had lived with him throughout the entire year, and that all the payments he had received had been put toward the care and support of the child.
When confronted by investigators, Lawrence stated he believed that all of the money had belonged to him, said Marc J. Furber, chief of the arson / economic crimes unit, who prosecuted the case.
Lawrence has remained in jail following the sexual assault charges being filed in late December. During his plea on Friday, Boylan increased his bail on the theft conviction from $25,000 to $100,000 cash.
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Falls police have said Lawrence sexually assault a girl, who was between 9 and 10 years old, up to a dozen times inside his ex-wife’s Vernon Road day care between 2000 and 2003.
Police told LevittownNow.com they fear there were more victims that have yet to come forward. Lt. Hank Ward said they were also ready opening two more investigations and asked any possible victims to come forward.
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Lawrence’s ex-wife operated Little Joys Day Care. The child care center previously operated in Bristol Township and later on Vernon Road in Falls Township’s Morrisville section.
In the theft case, Lawrence could face up to seven years in prison.
