Ex-GOP chair Kerns released on bail after night in jail
Former Montgomery County Republican party leader Robert J. Kerns spent the night at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility after being arrested Tuesday on charges that he drugged and raped a woman who worked at his law firm.
Former Montgomery County Republican party leader Robert J. Kerns spent the night at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility after being arrested Tuesday on charges that he drugged and raped a woman who worked at his law firm.
The 66-year-old Kerns, a North Wales resident, was released Wednesday after posting $100,000 cash - 10 percent of the $1 million bail, defense lawyer Brian McMonagle said.
Authorities say that on Oct. 25, Kerns offered to drive the 51-year-old employee from an office party in a Whitpain Township restaurant to the King of Prussia Mall, where she wanted to go shopping.
Instead, he allegedly slipped the sleep drug Ambien into a bottle of wine that he invited her to drink in his car. When the woman lost consciousness, Kerns raped her in the car and sexually assaulted her a second time at her home, according to a grand jury report.
At his arraignment before District Judge Robert M. Sobeck, Kerns pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include counts of charges of raping an unconscious victim, raping a substantially impaired person, and tampering with or fabricating evidence.
"We're now going to start conducting our investigation and see where it takes us," McMonagle said Wednesday.
A preliminary hearing has been set for Dec. 6.
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