Ex-Coach, West Chester Man, Raped Girls As Young As 6: DA

WEST CHESTER, PA — A West Chester man and former youth football coach in Bucks County has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing three young girls repeatedly, authorities said.

Shannon "Shawn" Westmoreland, 49, committed the assaults on the victims when they were between the ages of six and 18, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said. He'll spend the next 14 to 28 years behind bars.

The incidents occurred at various locations around Bensalem in Bucks County and in Reading in Berks County.

Westmoreland was initally arrested in 2017. Before his arrest, he called one of his victims and thanked her for not going to police, accoridng to the DA.

He also said 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 victim wrote to the court. “Although I’m still healing, this is one more step in the process."

Westmoreland failed to show up for a trial last fall and then went on the run. He was captured shortly thereafter by U.S. Marshals in Daytona Beach, Florida in Oct. 2018.

He pleaded guilty to rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault, and counts related to failing to show for his trial.

He also faces 15 years of probation once he's releaed from jail.