In an unfortunate turn of an already gravely upsetting set of events, a woman from Cumberland County has been charged with sexually abusing the adolescent victim of the “furry” pedophile ring exposed by officials earlier this year. According to Philly.com, Paige Wren Tasker, 27, of Mechanicsburg has been accused of sharing a bed with the then fourteen-year-old boy and sexually assaulting him, as well. These events transpired in the Monroe County home of David Parker, who has already been charged with sexually abusing the boy according to the state attorney general’s press release from January 29th of this year.
Tasker has been charged with sexual assault, corruption of minors, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than sixteen years of age, and indecent assault of a person less than sixteen years of age. Her bail has been set at $250,000. Philly.com reports that it is unknown at this time whether Tasker participated in the “furry” pedophile ring. However, Kevin Fenske, one of the co-defendants from that aforementioned case, maintained his innocence at a recent hearing and claimed afterward that the accusations have only been made in attempts to extort money from his self-proclaimed successful technology company.
As this multi-faceted case continues to develop, we encourage the prosecutors to look into bringing additional charges for trafficking in minors and involuntary servitude against minors under Pennsylvania’s human trafficking statute, if appropriate. Under this law, it is a felony to recruit, entice, solicit, harbor, transport, provide, obtain or maintain an individual if the person knows or recklessly disregards that the individual will be subject to involuntary servitude, in this case sexual servitude. Paired with what we know from prior reports regarding the entirety of these interconnected events and what Tasker has been accused of by officials, it is probable she was complicit in the harboring and maintaining of the boy for purposes of sexual servitude.
Given that child sex abuse cases frequently have connections to human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation, it is important for authorities to be well-versed in Pennsylvania’s new human trafficking statute in order to better recognize when this type of sexual exploitation may have occurred and charge perpetrators appropriately. We applaud the law enforcement officials responsible for making this arrest.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.