How Could You? Hall of Shame-Robert William Mulkern

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Hagerstown, Maryland, former basement tenant of a foster home Robert William Mulkern, 46, was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty in March 2013 to reduced charges of “sex abuse of a minor, five counts of manufacturing child pornography and two counts of third-degree sex offenses.”

This new article is the first to mention that the victim was in foster care at the onset of the sex abuse.

“The charges stem from incidents in 2009 involving a girl who was then 15 years old.

“I didn’t mean to hurt anybody,” Mulkern, 46, told Circuit Court Judge Donald E. Beachley before sentencing. “The girl needed someone to lead her in the right direction. She leaned on me and I went in the wrong direction. I’m also asking mercy from the court,” Mulkern told Beachley.

“We’re not exactly giving him a life sentence here,” Assistant State’s Attorney Brett Wilson said earlier in the hearing.

Mulkern will be eligible for parole in 12 1/2 years, he said.

“He not only had sex with her on several occasions, but he brought in a friend,” Wilson said, referring to Michael William Zimmer, who pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in 2010 and was sentenced to state prison.

Assistant Public Defender Loren Villa told Beachley that Mulkern had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, and believed his relationship with the girl would one day lead to marriage.

“He realizes he took advantage of the situation, although that was not his intention,” Villa said.

In March 2009, the Allegany County girl was placed in a foster home in Hagerstown, where Mulkern rented a basement apartment. [Who did the hometudy here?]The girl and Mulkern soon became involved in a sexual relationship, which he recorded on a digital camera.

The girl later was returned to the custody of her mother, but she left and moved in with Mulkern at an address on Spielman Road near Williamsport, where the sexual relationship continued.

The Missing Persons Unit of the Maryland State Police found the girl at Mulkern’s home, but both told police the relationship was platonic. The girl, who was on juvenile probation, was placed in juvenile detention.

In 2010 the girl, who was pregnant by Mulkern, was interviewed at the Child Advocacy Center about her relationship with Mulkern, Wilson said.

Mulkern moved from the Spielman Road address and, for a time, lived in a room in a warehouse. It was there that the owner of the property found the digital camera, which was later turned over to police, according to court records.

Mulkern was initially charged with five counts of third-degree sex offense, three counts of perverted practices and one count of making child pornography, the court records said.

He was found living in a wooded area near Halfway and was committed to the Washington County Detention Center in March 2010, but posted $75,000 bond in April, the records said.

In June 2010, Mulkern was charged by warrant with 149 counts of manufacturing child pornography, nine counts of third-degree sex offense and one count of sex abuse of a minor, all related to conduct with the same girl.

In September 2010, Mulkern failed to show up in circuit court for trial on his initial charges.

While on the run, Mulkern was twice featured on “America’s Most Wanted” television show.

On Nov. 1, 2012, Mulkern was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Vermont Violent Offenders Task Force in Windsor, Vt. Shortly thereafter, he was returned to Maryland.”

Man gets 50-year sentence on child sex abuse charges

[Cumberland Times-News 8/1/13]

2010 and 2012 Articles

2010-Failure to Appear in Court

“A man charged with sexually abusing a girl failed to appear in Washington County Circuit Court for his scheduled trial Monday and was being sought on those charges plus more than 150 other related counts.

“He wasn’t there because he knows he’s wanted on a new case,” Assistant State’s Attorney Brett Wilson said Tuesday of Robert William Mulkern Jr., 44, whose last known address was on Spielman Road in Williamsport. “I tend to believe he’s still in the area.”

Mulkern was charged in March by Maryland State Police with four counts of third-degree sex offense, two counts of unnatural or perverted practices and one count of child pornography, according to court documents.

At the time of his arrest, the Washington County Warrant Task Force found him living in a wooded area near Halfway, according to the application for statement of charges.

Mulkern had posted $75,000 bond on those charges in April and was released from the Washington County Detention Center”

Police seek man charged with sex abuse, 150 related counts

[The Hagerstown Herald Mail 9/21/10 by Don Aines]

2012-Held on $1Million Bond

“U.S. Marshals and Vermont State Police arrested Mulkern on Nov. 1 in Vermont. He was returned to Maryland and has been in the Washington County Detention Center since Wednesday.

Mulkern appeared before Roberts Thursday afternoon via a closed-circuit television feed between District Court and the Washington County Detention Center.

“Have a nice day,” Mulkern said after he was excused from the bond-review hearing.

Mulkern was charged in 2010 with one count of sex abuse of a minor, four counts of third-degree sex offense and 144 counts of child pornography.

Conviction on all counts would carry a maximum prison sentence of 1,505 years and $3.6 million in fines.

The investigation started Oct. 2, 2009, when the FBI and Maryland State Police started an inquiry into the disappearance of a 15-year-old girl from Allegany County, according to the statement of charges.

The girl’s mother said the juvenile ran away with Mulkern, investigators said in court documents.

Authorities said Mulkern and the girl met earlier while he was renting a room in a Hagerstown home.

On Nov. 9, 2009, troopers from the Child Recovery Unit met with Mulkern at his mobile home at 16409 Spielman Road in Williamsport, the application for statement of charges said. The statement alleged that Mulkern told police he had not seen the girl in months, but they found her in the back bedroom.

The girl initially told troopers she was involved in a sexual relationship with Mulkern, but changed her story in a Nov. 18, 2009, interview at a Montgomery County  juvenile detention center, according to court documents. That interview was requested by the Washington County Child Advocacy Center, the documents said.

On Dec. 4, 2009, the girl’s caseworker in Allegany County was informed that the girl was pregnant, the statement said.

Mulkern denied having a sexual relationship with the girl, telling police she had come to his home after she ran away from the place she had been staying, the application for statement of charges said.

On Feb. 14, 2010, a former employer of Mulkern called state police, informing them that Mulkern had once rented a room at his business, but had failed to make payments, the court papers said. That same day, another employee of Mulkern’s former boss found a camera with sexually explicit photographs at the business and turned it over to police, the statement said.

Authorities used a warrant to search Mulkern’s room at the business and seized a computer, a missing person poster of the girl, pornographic magazines and women’s clothing, court documents allege.

The girl was interviewed again on March 9, 2010, at the Washington County Child Advocacy Center. During the interview, the girl said she began a sexual relationship with Mulkern within a month of meeting him in the spring of 2009, the statement said.

Sixty-five of the 78 images on the digital camera were of the girl engaging in sexual acts with Mulkern and one of his friends, Michael William Zimmer, formerly of Niner Road in Finksburg, the application for statement of charges alleged. The pictures were taken on Sept. 18, 2009, and the girl identified Zimmer by name and description, the statement alleged.

Zimmer pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in October 2010. He was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison with all but five years of the sentence suspended, according to published reports.”
Child porn suspect held on $1M bond
[The Hagerstown Herald Mail 11/9/12]

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