Falls Township Man Sentenced For Molesting 5-Year-Old

A Falls Township Army veteran who molested a young girl for several years starting when she was 5 has been sentenced to serve 10 to 20 years in state prison.

Eric Derr, 34, pleaded guilty in January to multiple charges, including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child and unlawful sexual contact with a child. 

Bucks County Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr., who said the case was “particularly troubling,” sentenced Derr to a consecutive 14 years of probation and ordered him to have no contact with the victim. He will be registered as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Authorities say Derr forced the victim to engage in a sex act when she was as young as 5. The abuse continued until the victim, now 13, told her mother. Her mother notified police.

“I’ll never be able to express how sorry I am,” Der said in court, according to information from the Bucks County District Attorney's office. “I will never stop hating myself for what I have done.”

After Derr’s arrest on the sex assault charges, authorities found more than 800 images of child pornography on his computer, resulting in the additional pornography charge. He has previously pleaded guilty to that charge.