A Central Bucks West music director groped two of his former students, prosecutors said
Prosecutors in Bucks County worry that there are more victims who have been assaulted by Joseph Ohrt.
A longtime music teacher and choir director in the Central Bucks School District groped two students he met during his tenure, prosecutors said Tuesday, and investigators are concerned there may be additional victims.
Joseph Ohrt, 57, was charged with indecent assault and corruption of minors in those incidents, which took place in the 1990s. The charges come weeks after Ohrt was arrested for allegedly using hidden cameras to film a former student who was living with him while attending college.
Ohrt’s attorney, Mark Neff, did not immediately return a request for comment.
Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said Tuesday that as word spread of Ohrt’s February arrest, two more victims came forward.
“I hope and pray the defendant has not victimized any other children in the preceding decades,” Weintraub said. “But I fear that my prayers may not be answered.”
» READ MORE: Music director at Central Bucks West charged with illegally recording video of former student
Ohrt, of Furlong, has taught music and overseen choral groups at various elementary, middle, and high schools in the Central Bucks School District since 1987. He has been suspended from his current position as the head of the music department at Central Bucks West High School, according to Weintraub, who added that he believed Ohrt would “never teach in Central Bucks again.”
One of the victims in the charges filed Tuesday told detectives he was assaulted by Ohrt as a sixth-grade student at Linden Elementary School in 1991, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Ohrt’s arrest.
In that incident, Ohrt offered to teach the victim, then 11, how to play the piano, and brought him to the school’s music room alone, the affidavit said. There, Ohrt put his hand down the boy’s pants and groped him.
The victim reported the incident to his school’s guidance counselor, and Ohrt was later moved from his position at the elementary school to Central Bucks West High, according to the affidavit. Years later, when the victim became a student at that high school, Ohrt would see him in the hallways and call him a “rat,” the affidavit said.
The second victim reported a similar situation to police. Ohrt had hired the victim, whom he had taught at multiple schools in the district, to babysit his children while he went out to celebrate his wedding anniversary with his wife, the affidavit said. When the couple came home, Ohrt cornered the victim, who was 13 at the time, and groped him while putting his hand down the front of his pants, the affidavit said.
Detectives have been investigating Ohrt since September, when they received a report that he had assaulted a former student, according to court filings. That student described incidents in which Ohrt touched him and made sexual advances toward him.
That student later moved into Ohrt’s home and stayed there for a time, prosecutors said. After the former student reported the assaults, another man renting a bedroom in Ohrt’s home contacted police, saying Ohrt had asked him to dispose of a laptop and some electronics.
Among the items the man turned in were cellphone wall chargers that contained hidden cameras, police said. Memory cards found with those cameras contained footage of the former student in various stages of undress.
The man told police the footage was recorded without his permission, and Ohrt was charged with felony wiretap violation, felony possession of wiretap equipment, and related offenses.
Ohrt was released Tuesday after posting 10% of $100,000 bail.
Detectives are urging anyone who may have been victimized by Ohrt to contact them at 215-340-8216.