Man Sentenced To 12-24 Years For Sex Crimes At Chesco Private School

WEST WHITELAND TWP —A former staffer at a private boarding school in Chester County was sentenced to 12 to 24 years in state prison for having hundreds of sexual encounters with a student while working as a house parent.

Before the sentence was imposed, Daniel Rowley, 71, of Ft. Myers, Fla., pleaded guilty before Judge Ann Marie Wheatcraft to two counts of involuntary deviate sexual assault and unlawful contact with a minor.

Rowley admitted that he had sexual assaulted a student between 2003 and 2007 when he worked as a house parent at the Church Farm School in West Whiteland Township.

Church Farm School is a private boarding college-preparatory school run by Episcopal clergy for boys in 9-12 grade on Route 30 in Exton.

Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan commended the victim for coming forward and speaking with law enforcement about what occurred when he was a student.

“The victim’s actions exemplify to those being sexually abused that help is out there if they find the fortitude to tell someone,” Ryan said “Hopefully, Daniel Rowley’s lengthy sentence allows the victim to move forward with his life.”

According to court records:

West Whiteland Police received information in November 2018 about a former student who was sexually abused by a houseparent between 2003 and 2007.

Earlier in 2018, when the victim revealed the abuse to his school guidance counselor, but said he was not ready to speak with law enforcement.

In January 2021, police interviewed the victim.

The victim stated that when he was a freshman at the farm school during the 2003-04 school year, he lived in the cottage where the defendant was a houseparent.

Houseparents are adults who live in residence halls with students and oversee their day-to-day living.

During that school year, the defendant brought the victim into his living area three times a week, where he sexually abused the victim.

When he was a junior at the school, between 2005 and 2006, he again lived in the same cottage as the defendant.

That year, the defendant sexually assaulted the victim in his residence and as many as 20 times in the cottage’s boiler room located in the basement.

The defendant’s sexual abuse continued during the victim’s senior year.

The defendant, who abused the victim hundreds of times, left the school in 2010 after an internal investigation.

Rowley was charged with sexual abuse in July.