Alvin "Chip" Rosenberger. (Credit: Bucks County District Attorney)
Bucks County Common Pleas Judge Gary B. Gilman ordered consecutive prison terms on the six guilty pleas.
A Montgomeryville man with a history of prior convictions for sex crimes was sentenced to 12 ½ to 32 years in state prison last month for molesting a 9-year-old neighbor.
Alvin “Chip” Rosenberger, formerly of Sellersville, pleaded guilty in January 2024 to felony charges of indecent assault on a person less than 13 years old, corruption of minors, unlawful contact with a minor, and endangering the welfare of children, with each carrying a maximum term of 7 years in prison. He also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of indecent assault without consent of the other person and indecent assault of a person less than 16 years old, with each carrying a prison term of 1 to 2 years, per court documents.
Bucks County Common Pleas Judge Gary B Gilman ordered Rosenberger to serve his sentences consecutively. Gilman also ordered sex offender supervision by the state.
Rosenberger was represented by Colmar attorney William E. Moore.
All other felony charges against Rosenberger were dropped in January: criminal attempted aggravated indecent assault of a child, aggravated indecent assault of a child, criminal attempted aggravated indecent assault without consent, aggravated indecent assault without consent, criminal attempted aggravated indecent assault on a complainant less than 16, and aggravated indecent assault on a complainant less than 16.
Investigators were contacted in April 2023 regarding the alleged sexual abuse of a young girl by her neighbor, identified as Rosenberger. The girl’s parents told police they had observed messages their daughter had sent to a friend on her phone indicating that Rosenberger had attempted to have sex with her, according to charging documents.
The parents told police that Rosenberger had been their neighbor for two years, and he would occasionally take their daughter on walks around the neighborhood. After reading the messages on their daughter’s phone, they learned that Rosenberger had kissed the girl and touched her inappropriately during one of their recent walks, police said.
In an interview with the Bucks County Children Advocacy Center, the girl provided additional details, stating that while she was on a walk with Rosenberger, he took her into a neighbor’s apartment — who was hospitalized at the time — then kissed her on the mouth and touched her inappropriately, police said. Rosenberger stopped when the girl said she didn’t like what he was doing, according to the complaint.
The girl provided a description of the interior of the apartment, and upon being contacted by police, the occupant of the apartment confirmed they were hospitalized, Rosenberger had access as he was caring for their dog, and the girl had never otherwise been inside of the apartment, police said. The description of the apartment provided by the victim matched the interior of the apartment, according to police.
Court records show Rosenberger previously served a six-to-23-month jail sentence in February 2013 after pleading guilty to three misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure.
North Penn Now staffer Tony Di Domizio — who was the editor of the Lansdale Patch at the time of Rosenberger’s previous arrest — wrote that Rosenberger was arrested in May 2012 after repeatedly masturbating along the tree line of a female neighbor’s home along the 1600 block of North Line Street in Montgomery Township.
Rosenberger, who was facing a maximum three-to-six-year prison sentence at that time, was also sentenced to four years’ probation upon his release, court records show.
Sentencing coverage by Carl Hessler Jr. at the Pottstown Mercury indicated Rosenberger’s attorney sought a probation sentence in the case, stating a jail sentence would "cripple” Rosenberger’s contracting business. The report also states Rosenberger expressed remorse after hearing the victim’s impact statement.
"I’m very sorry for what I did, especially after I read the impact statement. I was pretty moved by her impact statement. I had no idea I hurt her that way,” Rosenberger testified, per Hessler’s report. "I don’t know what else to say.”
Further review of court records shows Rosenberger also previously pleaded guilty in 2002 to an indecent assault without consent charge, however details for that case and grading for the offense are unavailable.
Rosenberger was facing a 10 to 20 year prison sentence on the aggravated indecent assault of a child charge alone, along with a fine of up to $25,000 and a lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
