Charges have been bound over to court in the case of the former police chief and his friend who are accused of raping a child hundreds of times over a seven-year period.

Former Weissport police chief Brent Getz, 27, and Gregory Wagner Jr., 28, both of Lehighton, were scheduled to have their preliminary hearings Monday before Senior District Judge Edward M. Lewis, who filled in for District Judge William Kissner of Palmerton.

Wagner chose to waive his right to the hearing, while Getz opted to have his hearing.

Earlier this month, Weissport council voted unanimously to terminate Getz as chief of police.

Getz had been promoted to part-time chief of police in February by a unanimous vote.

Before working in Weissport, Getz worked for Palmerton, Franklin, West Penn Township and Tamaqua police departments.

Testimony

The investigation into Wagner began in May 2012 when the victim, who was 12 at the time, reported to a substitute teacher that she had been sexually assaulted by Wagner, agent Sean McGlinn of the state attorney general’s office testified on Monday. At the time, the report was sent to Franklin Township police, but no charges had been filed.

McGlinn said the accuser said she was raped “several times each month” by Getz and Wagner from the time she was 4 years old until just before she turned 12.

McGlinn said he spoke to Getz after his arrest and “stated to me that he could not confess to something he didn’t do.”

When a second agent also spoke to Getz, McGlinn said he said, “Oh my God, I’m going to jail.”

McGlinn said the complainant identified Getz by name.

“She told me he worked as a police officer,” he said.

Initially, McGlinn said the victim only named Wagner. The investigation went quiet until August, when another Franklin Township police officer took over the case and interviewed the victim.

The case was transferred to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office by the Carbon County District Attorney’s Office because of Getz’s employment with various police departments in Carbon County.

McGlinn said this time the victim gave a written statement that Getz was also with Wagner and that together, they both took part in raping her in his home.

He said that the victim’s statement ended with “Brent Getz told me not to tell anyone.”

McGlinn said the victim explained why she never named Getz as a suspect when she initially came forward in 2012.

McGlinn said the victim told her mother and a counselor at a victim’s center in Jim Thorpe that Getz also sexually assaulted her, but “she was told she should stick with just one perpetrator and not two” because if it was two, people wouldn’t believe her.

McGlinn said he is checking into the counselor’s statement to the victim, adding that the crisis center has since closed.

Throughout the hearing, Getz’s attorney Brian Collins continually objected to testimony being hearsay as McGlinn was the only person to testify.

Lewis denied a request to lower Getz’s bail.

The complaint

According to the affidavit filed by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Norristown, the investigation began in May 2012 after ChildLine, Children and Youth Services, received a complaint that an 11-year-old child reported that when she was left alone with Wagner, he touched her inappropriately, and the child is afraid.

She also reported years later that she had been repeatedly raped by Wagner and Getz several times a week, starting when she was 4. At the time of the rapes, Getz and Wagner would both have been teenagers.

Children and Youth Services notified Franklin Township police, who made arrangements for the child to be interviewed by the Children’s Advocacy Center in Scranton.

On May 16, 2012, the victim was interviewed on video by a forensic interviewer, at which time she said that Wagner, on multiple occasions, touched her inappropriately.

She also said that he offered her $5 to have sex with him, which she declined, and that he has also shown her pornography on his laptop.

In 2015, the case was reassigned and charges against Wagner were submitted to the District Court, but they were unable to be filed due to the charges being invalid. Valid charges were never resubmitted.

In August 2018, a Franklin Township police officer revisited the case and interviewed the victim.

Both Wagner and Getz are charged with rape of a child; conspiracy, rape forcible compulsion; involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child; conspiracy, forcible compulsion; aggravated indecent assault of a child; conspiracy, aggravated indecent assault without consent; and indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age.

Wagner also faces charges of simple assault and sexual exploitation of children.

Both remain lodged in the Carbon County Correctional Facility in lieu of $250,000 straight bail, and are scheduled to appear for a pretrial status conference June 13.