DA: Accused Falls Twp. Child Molester Was ‘Real Life Boogeyman’

District Attorney Matt Weintraub called the investigation into a 58-year-old alleged serial child molester and pornographer the “biggest and worst” in Bucks County history.

Weintraub and Falls Township police are worried that there are even more than the six victims – who were molested between the ages of 2 and 10 – that they have found in just a little over a month of investigating William “Willie” Thomas, who was charged with related crimes Friday and will face even more charges during a scheduled arraignment Tuesday.

At a late Monday morning press conference, authorities announced the arrest of Thomas and asked for anyone with information to come forward. Weintraub said he hopes there are no further victims but the longtime prosecutor knows to expect more.

“If anyone out there knows of somebody who has been victimized by this man or even has any information that may remotely advance our investigation, I urge you, I beg you, to contact us,” Weintraub said.

The county’s top lawman called Thomas the “real life boogeyman” that every parent fears.

Thomas, who owned Thomas Construction and worked at several Levittown-area mobile home communities as a handyman, reportedly told investigators he gained the trust of parents and children in the mobile home communities in the area. He even is alleged to have told detectives he would steal the underwear and pictures of little girls from the homes of customers. .

“Of the known victims, this goes back to 1997,” Weintraub said.

While investigators only have victims that trace the alleged molestations back to the 1990s, court documents indicate there is information that Thomas’ sexual interest in children dates to the 1970s.

During an interview with detectives, Thomas indicated that he has been attracted to kids since he himself was an adolescent. He also reported admitting to collecting and displaying photographs in his bedroom over decades, including a photo of a 7-year-old female family member.

When detectives served a search warrant at Thomas’ mobile home in the Midway Village community off Bristol Pike late last week, they found a disturbing scene. They told reporters more than 1,000 images of naked children, some prepubescent, and snaps of sexual assaults on young girls occuring. The walls were filled with hundreds, possibly even thousands, of little girl’s underwear, many of which were soiled.

Weintraub said the mobile home where Thomas lived was a “shrine” to his alleged molestation and perversion. Detectives wrote in court papers that photographs of naked children, some with their names listed, were “prominently displayed.”

The mobile home was filled with “incredibly vulgar and graphic drawings and writings which chronicled” molestation and sex with named children, police said.

In addition, commercially produced illegal child porn and legal adult porn was found. On some of the porn featuring adults, young children’s faces were superimposed over top along with penises.

Investigators said children’s toys and dolls with hollowed out vaginal areas were found in the mobile home.

“The human race hasn’t come up with words to describe what we saw in that trailer,” Ward, a longtime police officer, told reporters.

The probe into Thomas began in earnest in November when the owner of the Midway Village mobile home community called police to report after finding a piece of plywood with sexually explicit writing describing the physical likeness and molestation of two young girls. The plywood was being used in the mobile home community as part of renovations and uncovered when the owner removed it.

The writing on the plywood appeared to match other business writings that Thomas had allegedly put together, police said.

The district attorney and police praised the actions of the mobile home park owner and credited him with breaking the case wide open.

According to court documents and authorities, Thomas is believed by investigators to have documented his crimes and recorded many. Falls Lt. Hank Ward said police still have to sift through truckloads of evidence that was recovered, including VHS tapes and computers.

Two of Thomas’ neighbors told LevittownNow.com he appeared to be regular resident who didn’t cause many disturbances. However, they noted he was protective of his mobile home and did not let anyone inside. Falls Detective. Sgt. Chris Clark said that lives with what police were told.

The search of the mobile home also led investigators to drug paraphernalia and baggies that are alleged to have held marijuana and methamphetamine, police said.

Before living in the mobile home community where the search warrants were executed last week, Thomas lived at a Pleasant Lane home in Levittown and the Pennsbury Woods Apartments.

At the Pleasant Lane address where Thomas lived from birth until 2006, he is accused of molesting children.

In 2010, Falls police were called to the home when the person who bought the property to flip found some items they found concerning. The items included a homemade “child-sized sex doll” and a graphic handwritten note about performing sex acts on young girls. After the initial police report, the property owner also reportedly found Polaroids of naked kids and of Thomas.

Recently, detectives returned to the Pleasant Lane home and found handwritten sexual notes written in the wood of the shed. Pieces of the shed have been turned over to the Pennsylvania State Police crime lab for further review and to determine any other notes that may have been covered with paint.

As the recent investigation intensified, police found a man who alleged Thomas compelled him to perform sex acts on him when he was 8 to 11 years old in the 1970s. Thomas would have been either an teenager or young adult during that time period.

Thomas was tagged by authorities for child abuse in 2010 after he allegedly wrote a 9-year-old family member a sexually explicit note. An adult female family member confronted Thomas about the incident and he blamed it on drug use, court papers state.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Clark at 215-302-3315 or via email at clarkpd@fallstwp.com. Bucks County Detective Lt. Robert Gorman is also handling the case and can be reached at 215-340-8141 or rmgorman@buckscounty.org.

LevittownNow.com Reporter Erich Martin contributed to this article.

Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.