No Contest Plea On Sex Assault Charges For Ex-Warminster Cop

WARMINSTER, PA —A former Warminster police officer has entered a no-contest plea Thursday to sexually abusing five boys while serving as an officer in the D.A.R.E program, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said.

James Carey —a police officer for Warminster Township from 1989 to 2009—faces a possible 94-to-185-year prison sentence, according to Bucks County prosecutors.

Carey appeared before President Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. on Thursday morning and entered the open plea to five counts each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, and corruption of minors and two counts each of statutory rape and statutory sexual assault and one count of aggravated indecent assault.

Carey, 54, of Cape May Court House, N.J., is accused of sexually assaulting five teenage boys. He committed the acts, prosecutors said, while working as a DA.R.E. officer and running a program for troubled youth at the township’s recreation center.

Carey was arrested in April 2021 following a lengthy investigation by Bucks County Detectives and an inquiry by a Bucks County Investigating Grand Jury that found Carey sexually assaulted four boys between 1989 and 2009. That May, he was charged with the sexual assault of a fifth victim.

Carey faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 5-10 years based on guidelines for two of the charges against him.

Sentencing was deferred for 30 to 45 days. His trial was expected to start Monday.

Judge Bateman also ordered Carey undergo an evaluation by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification board.

“I am relieved for the survivors of the defendant’s abuse that he spared them the further turmoil having to testify against him would have caused each of them," District Attorney Matt Weintraub said. "Nevertheless, he must be made to pay a severe price for his extraordinary violation of trust. He abused his position of authority as a police officer to prey on the most vulnerable among us."

The victims, now in their 30s and 40s, had testified about the repeated abuse by Carey.

Most of the assaults happened while Carey was in uniform, the victims testified. One of the victims testified he was court-ordered to perform community service, and Carey took on the role of supervising his community service hours, which led to Carey sexually assaulting him several times.

Carey would then sign off on his community service paperwork, he testified. Many of the victims testified the horrors they endured as teens led to troubled lives as adults.

The case was investigated by Bucks County Detectives and was prosecuted by First Assistant District Attorney Jennifer M. Schorn and Assistant District Attorney Brittney Kern.