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Crime & Safety

Man Accused of Having Sex With Teenage Girls

A 35-year-old Falls Township man was arrested late last week on charges he had sex with two high-school aged girls.

Two teens say that a 35-year-old Falls Township man had sex with them in the months of October and November.

Benjamin Gartside, 35, of the Morrisville section of the township was arrested Friday on two counts of felony statutory sexual assault on a minor, aggravated indecent sexual assault, corruption of minors, child pornography and other offenses.

The incidents were uncovered when the parents of a 15-year-old made a report with township authorities in early December stating their underage daughter and Gartside had allegedly engaged in a sexual relationship, a criminal complaint said.

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The teen told police she had first engaged in sexual activity with Gartside at a Falls motel and later at his trailer home on Chandler Drive and several times in a wooded area nearby his home during the month of November.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, Gartside used a cell phone camera to videotape himself performing oral and vaginal sex on the 15-year-old Falls Township teen.

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The teen told investigators the 35-year-old encouraged her to create a Google Gmail account and communicate secretly with him. The teen sent several pictures of herself in a “state of undress” and Gartside asked her to send naked photos, the police complaint states.

Two days after the 15-year-old’s parents reported the alleged molestation to police, a 14-year-old said she had been having a sexual relationship with Gartside.

The teen told police that on one occasion in October he groped her and performed a sexual act.

Police also stated in their affidavit that on Halloween Garside gave the girl a “off-white” pill that made her “drowsy. “ On that night, police report he had sex with her.

Both teens were in the presence of Gartside when he was involved in “illegal drug activity” and accompanied him on drug runs to Philadelphia, the complaint said.

According to his inmate information card from county jail in Doylestown, the 35-year-old is divorced.

Gartside was arraigned Saturday before Penndel District Justice Daniel Baranoski and sent to jail in lieu of $500,000 cash bail.

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