NORRISTOWN — A Towamencin Township man is on his way to prison after he admitted to sexually assaulting a 12 year old boy.
Joseph Edward Slover, 25, of the 300 block of Erie Drive, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 2½ to 6 years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of statutory sexual assault in connection with incidents that occurred on Aug. 28, 2023, in Towamencin and Upper Gwynedd townships.
Judge Risa Vetri Ferman, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, also ordered Slover to complete two years of probation consecutive to parole, meaning Slover will be under court supervision for eight years.
The judge ordered that Slover be placed under sex offender supervision and ordered him to have no contact with the victim.
Slover also faces a 25-year requirement to report his address to state police in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, previously known as Megan’s Law.
Other charges of rape of a child, indecent assault of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, aggravated indecent assault of a minor and corruption of a minor were dismissed against Slover as part of the plea agreement.
Court documents do not indicate how Slover met the boy.
However, in September 2023, “because of an investigation into a different matter,” the victim provided detectives consent to download the contents of his cellphone, according to a criminal complaint filed by Upper Gwynedd Township Detective Sergeant Robert Pro III.
While reviewing the contents of the boy’s cellphone, detectives uncovered conversations he had with Slover, who was 24-years-old at the time. During the conversations, Slover and the victim discussed engaging in sexual acts and arranged to meet on Aug. 28, according to court documents.
Slover picked up the boy on a parking lot in Upper Gwynedd and then drove the boy to his apartment where he sexually assaulted the boy, according to the criminal complaint.
The victim told detectives that during the interactions Slover repeatedly referred to him as “kid.” After sexually assaulting the boy, Slover drove the victim back to the victim’s neighborhood and dropped him off there.
“They did not communicate afterwards as the victim believed Slover blocked the victim’s number,” Pro alleged in the arrest affidavit.
During the investigation, detectives reviewed cellphone data that showed Slover’s cellphone was in the area of the pickup location at the time provided by the victim.
The victim told detectives that he had observed a purple stuffed animal on the dashboard of Slover’s vehicle, which detectives observed and confirmed during surveillance of Slover as the investigation progressed, court documents indicate.
During the investigation, four other men from Montgomery and Bucks counties were charged with having inappropriate contact with the same boy. Their cases are still pending in Montgomery County Court, according to court records.
