Croydon Man Sentenced For Abusing 2 Girls After Trying To Flee To Mexico

A Croydon man convicted of sexually and physically abusing two girls was sentenced Friday to serve 25 to 50 years in state prison.

A Bucks County Common Pleas Court jury convicted Joseph Gries, 51, in absentia last September after he fled to California to avoid prosecution.

“You engaged in physically, emotionally and sexually abusive behavior toward these children,” Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. told Gries, calling the defendant’s actions “unspeakable," according to information from the Bucks County District Attorney's office.

Authorities captured Gries en route to Mexico and he was returned to Pennsylvania to face sentencing for involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault of a child, simple assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors.

Gries, a self-employed carpenter, had an extensive record of burglaries and theft-related crimes in five states that dated to the 1980s, authorities say. He was declared a sexually violent predator after a psychologist told the judge Gries suffers from a personality disorder that makes him "highly likely to reoffend."

Gries told the judge that he mentally abused "the hell out of” the girls, but denied beating or sexually assaulting the girls. “They’re trying to paint me as some kind of freak here,” he said, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's office.

“I have no desire to be sexual with any kid,” he said. He said he fled because he didn’t want to come to trial "for something I didn’t do.”

Gries was sentenced to serve 10 to 20 years for involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a victim under 16, five to 10 years for each of two counts of aggravated indecent assault, and two and one half to five years each for endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors.

The sentences will run consecutively, for a total sentence of 25 to 50 years.