Delco DA asked to take over fondling case against former Radnor commissioner

Radnor Township authorities have asked Delaware County prosecutors to take over the investigation of a longtime Main Line politician accused of fondling a 103-year-old woman in a nursing home before Christmas.

Township Manager Robert Zienkowski said at a news conference Tuesday that he hoped the District Attorney's Office would look into "other items" involving former Radnor Commissioner William Spingler. He declined to elaborate.

Spingler, 75, of Paoli, is free on $10,000 bail after his arrest Dec. 23 on charges of indecent assault against a woman he visited several times between Dec. 15 and 23 at the Wayne Nursing Home. Authorities have not disclosed the woman's identity or said why Spingler was visiting her.

They said several nursing home employees witnessed the alleged assaults. Spingler is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing Thursday on the misdemeanor charges.

Spingler is a longtime Democratic elected official who, prior to his retirement in 2015, had been a crucial supporter of several community development projects, including major capital construction at Villanova University. He served for 32 years on the Board of Commissioners of the township and eight years as a county commissioner.

"It's horrible, at best, when you have an incident like this occurring to someone who's 103 years old," Zienkowski said. "It's awful."

Spingler, a widower, declined to comment when reached by phone over the weekend. He appeared to have no lawyer assigned to the case as of Tuesday, Police Superintendent William Colarulo said.

After receiving initial reports about the alleged assaults, police thought that county detectives would handle the probe, given the sensitivity of the allegations and the high profile of the person accused. However, Zienkowski made the call that charges be filed immediately by local police, Colarulo explained, after police realized a string of assaults might have happened.

Colarulo did not specify what else had become known to authorities. "The township manager is going to make sure that other incidents are looked at," he said.

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