Phila. Lawyer, Imprisoned for Sex With 14-Year-Old, Disbarred
A Philadelphia lawyer convicted of having sex with a 14-year-old girl who was forced into prostitution by a Germantown couple has been disbarred by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
February 23, 2018 at 03:58 PM
4 minute read
A Philadelphia lawyer accused of having sex with a 14-year-old girl who was forced into prostitution by a Germantown couple has been disbarred by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Brian Meehan was sentenced to a two- to four-year prison term in December after being indicted on sexual assault charges in 2014. His Feb. 22 disbarment was a result of his resignation from the practice of law, and is retroactive to Nov. 6, 2017.
Meehan turned himself in to authorities in November 2014 after a lengthy grand jury investigation as well as an investigation by the Philadelphia Police Department's Special Victims Unit.
The specific charges against Meehan were involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, corrupting the morals of a minor, indecent assault, promoting prostitution of a minor, and patronizing prostitutes.
“The 14-year-old victim in this case was taken to 'out-calls' at the defendant's place of employment—a Center City law firm at One Penn Center—several times where he engaged in sex with her for money,” former Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said at the time of Meehan's indictment.
“During testimony to the grand jury, the 14-year-old victim was able to describe Meehan's office and the interactions she had with him in the office,” Williams said. “She testified that Meehan engaged in vaginal and oral intercourse with her on several occasions. She also testified that Meehan told her he knew that she was only 14 years old, that he liked younger girls, and that the youngest girl he had sex with was a 12-year-old.”
Meehan was formerly a name partner at the law firm of Bishop Dorfman Lazaroff & Meehan, now known as Bishop, Dorfman, Kroupa & Bishop.
When Meehan was charged, a spokesperson from the firm told The Legal, “We are shocked and appalled and moved swiftly to terminate Mr. Meehan as soon as we learned of the matter. Our thoughts are with the victim and we will continue to do everything we can to cooperate with the investigation.”
According to the grand jury presentment, police reviewed the criminal records of the couple, Shante Fenning and Robert Harris, who sold the 14-year-old girl to 20 men per week.
“Both had been previously represented by an attorney named Brian P. Meehan, employed by the law firm Bishop, Dorfman, Lazaroff, and Meehan, located at 1617 JFK Blvd.,” the presentment said. “Brian Meehan fit the description of the attorney 'Meehan' with whom the victim had sex; however, due to the lengthy period of time since their last encounter, the victim was unable to make a photo identification.”
After the couple was taken into custody, one of them identified Meehan as an attorney to whom they sold two girls, according to the presentment.
In October 2014, Philadelphia police and the FBI searched Meehan's residence and seized his cellphone.
“The cellular phone seized from Meehan was forensically analyzed by Det. Christopher Tankelewicz of the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office,” the presentment said. “Det. Tankelewicz also recovered hundreds of pornographic websites from the internet history of Meehan's phone. Over 35 of those websites included pornographic videos with 'teen' in the title.”
Additionally, the presentment said call logs showed that Meehan's phone made or received calls from a cellphone belonging to a member of the couple on four different dates between Jan. 1, 2012, and June 1, 2012.
Police also scanned Meehan's office with an ultraviolet light and found semen stains on a chair and couch in the room.
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