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Lebanon County Judge Bradford Charles ordered convicted sexual offender Scott Thomas of Lebanon to spend 15 to 40 years in a state prison at an Aug. 30 sentencing hearing in Lebanon County court.

The 55 year-old Thomas has been declared a sexually violent predator and will have to register with local police for the rest of his life, if he’s released after serving at least 15 years in jail.

Judge Charles also forbade Thomas from having any contact with his victims, and urged state parole authorities to not allow any unsupervised contact with minors for any reason, if he is ever released.

The sentence covers two separate sets of criminal charges filed against Thomas in 2019 and 2020.

Thomas was charged with over four dozen offenses including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault of a person under 13 years old, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of child pornography.

He pled “no contest” to the charges on Feb. 25.

The bulk of the jail sentence comes from the most serious charge, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.

District Attorney Pier Hess Graf told LebTown that “[a]t the time of the report which led to [the 2020 charges], Mr. Thomas was still a [Lebanon County Children & Youth Services] foster parent with children actively placed in his home.” 

She added that “[a] search of the [Thomas] residence later revealed the drugs, paraphernalia, and devices which contained child pornography.  The [2020 charges were] far more severe . . .” and constituted “the main portion of the sentence imposed.”   

Hess Graf said that the sentence was structured so that Thomas will spend the rest of his life on parole or official supervision, if he is released in 15 years at age 70.  

Hess Graf said that neither Thomas nor his wife are currently foster parents, and that Mrs. Thomas faces pending charges for alcohol and drugs in the home and for furnishing them to minors.

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Chris Coyle writes primarily on government, the courts, and business. He retired as an attorney at the end of 2018, after concentrating for nearly four decades on civil and criminal litigation and trials. A career highlight was successfully defending a retired Pennsylvania state trooper who was accused,...