Bucks Co. Cop Sentenced For Sexually Assaulting 11-Year-Old Girl: DA

LOWER SOUTHAMPTON, PA — A former Philadelphia police lieutenant will serve time for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl in 2017, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday.

Richard Michael Frank, 51, is a Lower Southampton resident. He was convicted of indecent assault, endangering the welfare of a child, and corruption of minors by a Bucks County jury in December after a four-day trial.

Before Frank was sentenced, the girl in question and her parents delivered victim impact statements.

The girls' mother said Frank used his position of authority to abuse the victim, saying, "he thought he was above the law." The girl said she "was determined to make sure that he would not do this to anyone else."

Common Pleas Judge Raymond F. McHugh sentenced Frank to between 364 and 729 days in the Bucks County Correctional Facility. He will also be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Detective James Schirmer with the Upper Southampton Police Department began investigating in September of 2019, when a report of suspected child abuse was filed.

The young girl, under the age of thirteen at the time, was interviewed at the Bucks County Children’s Advocacy Center and detailed sexual abuse by Frank in July and August of 2017, while Frank was supervising the child.

Frank was arrested in October 2019. He was a Philadelphia police officer from 1999 until the date of his arrest.

This case was investigated by Upper Southampton Police Detective James Schirmer and was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Monica W. Furber.

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