JUDGE WON'T DROP SEX CHARGE A BUCKS MAN ACCUSED OF MOLESTATION HAD ASKED THAT ONE OF THE 33 COUNTS AGAINST HIM BE DISMISSED.

Author: Lacy McCrary, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Bucks County Court Judge John J. Rufe denied a request yesterday to throw out one of the 33 sex-abuse charges filed last fall against accused child molester Thomas Cusick.

Cusick's lawyer, Kevin Zlock, argued during a brief hearing in county court that Assistant District Attorney Michelle A. Henry had not offered enough evidence at a preliminary hearing on Dec. 16 to sustain a charge of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old boy, one of seven alleged victims who lived with Cusick.

Zlock contended the teen "specifically denied" at the preliminary hearing that sex acts occurred between him and Cusick.

Henry said there had been "very emotional and difficult testimony" from six youths about alleged sexual abuse by Cusick, 48, their adoptive and foster father.

She said one of the teen's siblings testified about his own abuse and said he had seen others being abused by Cusick, including the 17-year-old in question.

Rufe, in denying Zlock's motion, said the prosecution had presented sufficient evidence to take the charge to trial. He said the prosecution was entitled to develop the testimony more completely at Cusick's trial, scheduled to begin Feb. 28.

Cusick, an unmarried and unemployed resident of Middletown Township when he surrendered to police on Oct. 26, has maintained his innocence. Over the years he took 28 children into his home, most of them young boys, and most from New York child-welfare authorities.

Outside the courtroom, Henry said that an investigation of Cusick was under way in Staten Island, N.Y., where he lived with the boys for several years before moving with them in January 1998 to a four-bedroom house on Cottonwood Drive in Middletown.

He is free on $600,000 bail. Six youths testified at the preliminary hearing before District Justice John J. Kelly Jr.

Henry said Cusick could face a prison sentence of up to 291 years if he is convicted on all counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, child endangerment, corruption of minors, and related charges.

Zlock declined to comment on a letter sent by U.S. Rep. James Greenwood (R., Bucks) to New York Gov. George Pataki this week asking for an investigation into Cusick's ability to get foster children as a single parent.