Ex-Montco GOP boss takes plea deal for sex charges

THE FORMER chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Party yesterday accepted a plea deal for indecent assault, after facing his victim in a Norristown court and hearing of the devastation he caused her family.

Robert J. Kerns, 67, waived his right to trial and accepted the negotiated "no contest" plea deal, which keeps him out of jail but gives him two years probation and places him on the books as a registered sex offender for the next 15 years.

In addition, Kerns received a $500 fine and was ordered to pay restitution.

"What the defendant did to me rocked my world and rocked my family's world," said the victim, a thin, petite woman in her early 50s who worked at Kerns' law firm at the time that she alleged he drugged and raped her in Oct. 2013.

"It took a lot for me to come forward because I was so distraught," she added. "I didn't think I could go up against someone having the status of my offender. I can't tell you how many times I have wondered, 'How many other women?' "

According to court documents, on Oct. 25, 2013, the woman was working for Kerns at his suburban law firm and agreed to join him and fellow colleagues for an office party later that day.

The woman accepted a ride home from Kerns that night. She claims it was then that he sexually assaulted her in his Mercedes Benz and again when he dropped her off at home in Montgomery County.

The case was punted to the state attorney general after the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office bumbled the results of a toxicology report. Montgomery County detectives originally thought the sleep-aid drug Ambien had been found in the woman's bloodstream, but they had misread the test results forcing the local D.A. to hand the case over to the state attorney general.

After the state attorney general assumed control of the case, a district judge dismissed the most serious charges of rape of an unconscious victim and sexual assault due to a lack of evidence.

"This entire case began with false accusations of rape and date rape and drugging. Mr. Kerns' decision today to end this with a no-contest plea to a misdemeanor was really just a recognition that he didn't want to put two good families through the ordeal of a very contentious trial," said defense lawyer Brian McMonagle.

Kerns, married with two children, remained silent exiting court.

"To her, the defendant having to register for 15 years as a sex offender is a significant victory," said Deputy Attorney General Daniel J. Dye.

"She faced an uphill battle . . . This is a powerful member of the public who's been accused of sex crimes . . . She wanted to come forward and see the right thing happen, and she feels that it did today."