Center City attorney arrested as john in forced prostitution of underage girl

HE BRAGGED to friends about the girls he "banged," showing them pornographic pictures on his cellphone. He let loose his lust at work, locking the conference room doors for illicit, paid trysts in front of windows overlooking Center City. He even offered baked treats made by his wife to his favorite escort and discussed his daughters with her.

But worst of all, Brian Meehan's conquests were teenage girls forced into prostitution, and he was a prominent Center City attorney introduced to them by clients, according to a Philadelphia investigating grand jury.

Meehan, 56, of Berwyn, turned himself in to police yesterday after grand jurors indicted him for involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, promoting prostitution of a minor and related crimes.

Investigators say he paid for sex with a 14-year-old girl many times in his law offices at One Penn Center and once confessed to her that his youngest conquest was just 12 years old.

The girl, now 16, and four others - between the ages of 14 and 19 - were part of a sex-trafficking scheme run by a man and woman from Germantown, who Meehan had represented in past cases, District Attorney Seth Williams said during a news conference yesterday.

The duo kept the teens hostage in a home on Harvey Street near Concord and delivered them to johns for sex, Williams said. The 14-year-old, who was prostituted to more than 20 men a week in Philadelphia, later was sold to other traffickers in Camden and Georgia, according to the grand-jury report.

"I believe there's a very special place in hell for men like Brian Meehan that rape 12- and 14-year-old girls," Williams said.

Meghan Goddard, an assistant district attorney who specializes in family violence and sexual assault, agreed: "He practiced law by day and bought an underage girl by night. This arrest shows that the underground world of human trafficking is fueled by predators from all walks of life. It also shows that investigators will punish those who not only force girls into prostitution, but the men who buy them."

Tasha Jamerson, spokeswoman for the D.A.'s Office, confirmed that the Germantown pair has been arrested and remain in custody.

But she and Williams declined to release their names or information about other offenders, saying an indicting grand jury, the FBI and authorities in Camden and Georgia continue to investigate the scheme and revealing too many details will imperil those probes. More arrests are expected, Williams added.

The 14-year-old victim who testified against Meehan told grand jurors that she lived just a few blocks away from the Germantown duo, who "recruited" her for sex work in March 2012 - but held her hostage in their home for a month, bullying her with physical abuse and threats. Her family reported her missing on March 2, 2012.

The pair sold her for several hundred dollars to a man in Camden, where she sought hospital treatment in April 2012 for severe vaginal injuries she suffered from sexual abuse, according to the grand-jury report. The report doesn't reveal which hospital, nor whether staff there reported the abuse. But investigators later determined the girl gave staffers a fake name, the report notes.

After returning to the Germantown couple, another pimp took her to Georgia, where she lived for a year - and where federal authorities identified her as a human-trafficking victim. They alerted Philadelphia's Special Victims Unit, whose detectives had been investigating trafficking claims about the Harvey Street home since April 2012.

Meehan is the only alleged john arrested so far, Jamerson said, mostly because he's the only one whose full name and workplace his alleged victim knew.

Investigators searching his office last month found semen stains on a couch, chairs and floor in the firm's conference room, according to the grand-jury report. They discovered hundreds of pornographic websites in Meehan's smartphone Internet history, including at least 35 featuring videos of teens, according to the grand-jury report.

Meehan's firm did not return a request for comment. It appears he no longer works there.

Fortunato Perri, who represents Meehan, couldn't be reached.