Former Royersford man in prison for child sex assault admits to new stalking charge

NORRISTOWN — A former Royersford man already serving up to a dozen years in prison for sexually assaulting an underage girl in 2019 received an additional sentence for repeatedly contacting the victim’s family from behind prison bars.

Anthony M. Poole, 52, formerly of the 300 block of South Fourth Avenue in Royersford, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 2 to 4 years in state prison after he pleaded guilty to a felony stalking charge in connection with incidents that occurred between March and October 2022 while he was incarcerated at the state prison in Frackville, Schuylkill County.

Judge Thomas C. Branca, who accepted a plea agreement, said the sentence will run consecutively to the 6-to-12-year sentence Poole received in January 2022 for the previous sexual assault.

With the stalking charges, Royersford police and prosecutors alleged Poole, while incarcerated, sent numerous letters and photographs to the sexual assault victim’s family asking them to contact him. A judge previously ordered Poole to have no contact with the victim and her family.

The mother of the victim informed police about “the emotional and mental distress she has continually experienced due to the repeated attempts at communications from Poole,” according to the criminal complaint filed by Royersford Police Officer Zacchaeus Eger.

“During the interview, she appeared extremely distraught from speaking about this incident,” Eger alleged.

As part of the latest sentence, Judge Branca reiterated that Poole is to have no contact with the victim or her family.

In January 2022, Poole pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of a child and corruption of a minor and was sentenced to 6 to 12 years in prison, to be followed by seven years of probation, as part of a plea agreement. With those charges, prosecutors alleged Poole sexually assaulted a girl who was under the age of 16 in November 2019.

Poole knew the girl’s family.

Poole also faces a lifetime requirement to report his address to state police after he’s paroled in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.