Lurid testimony opens trial of suspended Moorestown officer

Testimony began Thursday in the trial of a Moorestown police officer and his former girlfriend, who are accused of sexually assaulting three juvenile girls in his home over eight years, in one case allegedly videotaping their actions.

Robert Melia Jr., 42, who was suspended from his patrol job after his arrest in April 2008, sat in Superior Court in Mount Holly and scribbled continuously on a notepad as Assistant Burlington County Prosecutor Kevin Morgan gave sordid details of how Melia allegedly videotaped a blindfolded and bound girl being repeatedly violated with objects.

"Perhaps the most crucial piece of evidence was the video," Morgan told the jury, adding that the girl appeared to have been drugged.

Melia's girlfriend, Heather Lewis, whom the prosecution identified as the adult woman on the tape, is accused of assaulting the minor and forcing her to be her sexual partner.

Melia's lawyer, Mark Catanzaro of Moorestown, said the girl appeared to be an adult and had consented to the sex act. There was no evidence Melia was even present at the taping, he said.

The two other girls Melia and Lewis allegedly assaulted lied to police to deflect criticism about themselves and their troubled families, Catanzaro said.

"They conjured up a story," he said.

Testimony before Judge Charles Delehey began after opening arguments, with some jurors looking away when the discussion became graphic.

Morgan warned the panel they would need to see explicit photographs and the 35-minute video police extracted from Melia's computer.

"I apologize for the disturbing material," he said.

Lewis, 36, of Pemberton, took the girls to Melia's home in Moorestown to be "exploited" for the couple's "sexual amusement and enjoyment," Morgan said. Police were notified after one of the girls told her stepfather.

The first witness to testify was one of the alleged victims. She said she occasionally visited Melia's house to babysit Lewis' son from a previous relationship. The child is her cousin, said the woman, who is now 23.

"I would go there to play with him, babysit him. He was attached to me. I spent a lot of time there," she said.

But one night she awoke in the house to find Lewis sexually assaulting her, she testified. When she tried to move away, Melia held her back, she said.

Police said that during a search of Melia's home on Cottage Avenue, they also discovered video of Melia engaged in sexual acts with calves on a Burlington County farm. He was charged with animal cruelty, but a judge dismissed the counts in 2009, saying there was no evidence the animals had been tormented by the acts.

Melia and Lewis are standing trial on more than 40 counts each of aggravated sexual assault, sexual contact, endangering the welfare of a minor, invasion of privacy, and other charges related to the teens.