WASHINGTON — More victims have come forward as the investigation continues into the case of an 80-year old Maryland man who was arrested and charged with sexually abusing a four-year-old girl.
Diane Richardson with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office says that since Joseph Elmer Rohls’ Nov. 22 arrest, two more victims, now adults, said he sexually assaulted them when they were young girls.
“When he was placed under arrest, we did develop further information that he possibly sexually assaulted a number of young girls,” Richardson said. “All of them described to be anywhere between the ages of four and seven. Maybe some were younger.”
Richardson said the alleged abuse took place in Rohls’ Newburg, Maryland, home as well as in the homes of people he visited.
“We believe that abuse could have started between 1978 all the way up until Nov. 22 of this year when he was arrested,” she said.
That’s a span of nearly 40 years.
Detectives have enough information to believe there were other assaults that occurred and weren’t reported. Richardson said they are hoping other victims will come forward.
“Really, anybody who had any affiliation with Mr. Rohls who had young children at the time might want to talk to their children who are adults now and try to find out if anything inappropriate happened,” recommended Richardson.
“What we’re hoping is that people will look at his picture, they’ll look at his name. If they had anything to do with him, if they lived in the Newburg area, if they ever visited his house or had any relationship whatsoever and they felt there was inappropriate activity, behavior or anything that happened to them, we want to hear from them.”
Anyone with information regarding Rohls should call Charles County Sheriff’s Detective J Feldman at 301-609-6474.
