Ex-Coach Raped Girls As Young As 6 In Bensalem, Elsewhere

BENSALEM, PA — A former youth football coach in Bensalem pleaded guilty Monday to raping three girls, one of them as young as 6 years old, over the course of several years.

Shannon "Shawn" Westmoreland, 49, of West Chester, pleaded to charges of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and statutory sexual assault, the Bucks County District Attorney's office announced.

Westmoreland was accused of sexually abusing his victims a number of times between 2005 and 2011, when they ranged in age from 6 to 18, prosecutors said. The assaults happened in Bensalem and Reading, in Berks County.

Judge Jeffrey L. Finley sentenced Westmoreland to 14-28 years in state prison, followed by 15 years of probation.

"Your conduct here is despicable," Finley said, noting the victims’ trauma. "Their sentence will exceed your sentence."

Previously, Westmoreland had failed to show up for his trial, which was originally scheduled to begin in October. He was captured shortly thereafter by U.S. Marshals in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Westmoreland was initally arrested in 2017. Before his arrest, he called one of his victims and thanked her for not going to police, according to the district attorney's office.

He also said during that call, which law enforcement intercepted, that he"did not know" why he had done what he had done to her.

"For many years, I have been haunted by what was done to me," one of the victims wrote in a statement to the court. "Although I’m still healing, this is one more step in the process."

During the time of the assaults, Westmoreland served as a youth coach with the Bensalem Ramblers football program.