24 January 2023- A 31 year old Chambersburg man is charged with a series of child sex crimes after he allegedly abused a boy that called him his “brother” for a number of years. Kevin Douglas Helm is charged with felony IDSI with a child, felony sexual assault, felony indecent assault, felony corruption of minors, felony child endangerment, misdemeanor indecent exposure, and misdemeanor indecent assault. Helm is behind bars on $60,000 bail in Franklin County Jail.
A series of interviews were conducted between March of 2020 and December of 2022 where a juvenile alleged told both police and child advocacy workers he was sexually assaulted by Kevin Douglas Helm, whom he allegedly referred to as “his brother”. Initial interviews when the victim was 11 in 2020 allegedly revealed Helm and the victim slept in the same bed often but would not elaborate further. More interviews with the victim allegedly found that Helm would allegedly often bring him places in his car, bringing him to Helm’s work and other places. During this time, Helm allegedly sexually assaulted the victim, forcing them to carry out various sexual acts. Helm allegedly told him to lie about it, telling the victim that something bad would happen to Helm if they told anyone. The victim allegedly told police these assaults happened at least 50 times.
The victim allegedly told adults and authorities the final details in a final interview in December of 2022. Based off of the series of interviews, police allegedly determined the assaults to have occurred from approximately the victim’s 6th birthday in 2014 to about March of 2020, when the victim was 11. The defendant’s birthdate in in 1991, meaning that Helm was 22 or 16 years older than the victim at the time of the first alleged assault. These assaults were determined to be at three separate homes, with two in St Thomas Township and one in Southampton Township, all Franklin County.
Helm is behind bars on $60,000 bail. His preliminary hearing is set for January 31st.
Sources: Docket Number: MJ-39306-CR-0000012-2023, Incident Number: PA 2020-340719
