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Matthew Bateman, the 28-year-old Deputy Chief of the Folcroft Fire Company, is charged with institutional sexual abuse of a minor and more than a dozen related counts, state court records show.
Police wrote in the affidavit that Bateman had carried on an increasingly inappropriate relationship with a teenage boy who was working as a junior firefighter with the company over a period of months.
The victim told detectives that Bateman would kiss him, hug him, and at times grab his genitals over the pants during their shifts at the Folcroft firehouse. He told police the abuse began when he'd first arrived at the station in "July or August," when he was still 15.
Investigators wrote that Bateman began by offering the child quick hugs whenever he would open up about his depression, but that the physical contact escalated in frequency and intensity as the months wore on.
The hugging became kissing, with Bateman often bribing the boy with nicotine vapes and marijuana for his compliance, the affidavit claims.
The boy also said Bateman would touch his penis over the pants and then and play it off as an accident or a joke. The teen said all of the physical contact between him and Bateman was non-consensual, and almost always happened in "blind spots" of the station not recorded by security cameras, the teen told police.
The child described apparent emotional abuse on the Deputy Chief's part, as well. Bateman would threaten to cut or even kill himself when the boy showed more attention to others, according to the affidavit.
In one instance, the teen described pulling a knife out of Bateman's hand when the 28-year-old began cutting his arm open in the Chief's Office.
The victim told investigators he feared his Deputy Chief, who had variously claimed to have mafia connections, to be a "gangbanger from Ohio," and to have committed murder in the past.
The child's mom reported the incident to police as soon as she learned of the allegations, authorities wrote. The victim says Bateman kissed or touched him nearly every day for four months beginning in the summer.
In an interview with police investigators, Bateman allegedly admitted to kissing the boy and buying him marijuana, though he denied touching the child's genital area, according to the affidavit. He turned his phone over to detectives for forensic analysis,
Bateman remains in the Delco lockup as of Friday, Dec. 30 after being unable to post bail, state court records show. He's due back in court for a preliminary on Jan. 12.
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