Accused Abuser Pleads Not Guilty to New Charges
by Ed Hayward
Originally published by The Boston Herald, August 20, 2002
A Salisbury man awaiting trial on charges he sexually and physically abused his family entered a not guilty plea yesterday to additional sex abuse charges in Salem Superior Court.
Patrick McMullen, 38, who is being held in the Essex County jail in Middleton, had his bail amount increased by $100,000 for the latest charges returned in a grand jury indictment last week. McMullen did not appear in court yesterday, but had his attorney enter his plea. His total bail amount now stands at $200,000.
McMullen faces seven new counts of rape of a child under 16 and four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, Eastern District Attorney Kevin M. Burke's office said.
McMullen allegedly kept his family isolated in a Route 1 commercial building he rented for six years. His children were not enrolled in the town's public schools and at the time of McMullen's initial arrest no one knew the family lived at the property. His wife, with the help of her church, was able to escape with her children slightly more than a year ago.
McMullen already faces many other charges, including four child rape charges, five charges of indecent asault and battery on a child under 14, assault with intent to rape a child under 16 and two charges of indecent assault and battery.
The alleged assaults took place at the family's former residence at 158 Lafayette Road from 1995 to 2001, prosecutors said. The victims ranged in age from 6 to 13 during those years.
