Credit: Bucks County District Attorney’s Office
A contractor hired to remove bees at a Wrightstown Township home in 2021 was convicted Wednesday of inappropriately touching an 11-year-old boy at the residence.
Jeffrey Todd Lukens, 62, of Buckingham Township, was convicted by a jury after a three-day trial at the Justice Center in Doylestown Borough. The jury found him guilty of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors, indecent assault, invasion of privacy, disorderly conduct, and harassment.
Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Raymond McHugh deferred sentencing until April.
Lukens, according to a past Doylestown Intelligencer report, was previously registered as a sex offender for a 2008 incident involving an 11-year-old boy. He served time in county prison and probation, but he was removed from the state’s sex offender list.
As Lukens was working at the Wrightstown Township family’s home in September 2021, he offered to have the boy help him, providing him a partial bee suit to protect him, authorities said.
Lukens inappropriately touched the child as he was on a ladder and using a reciprocating saw to dismantle the bee nest. Lukens then lifted the boy’s shorts and took a smartphone picture of his thighs, authorities said.
Lukens continued to touch the youngster while he was still on the ladder, putting his hand under the boy’s shirt. He inappropriately grabbed the boy again, and when he felt Lukens lift his underwear away from his body, he got off the ladder and departed, authorities said
Lukens returned a few days later to remove the rest of the nest. He then asked the boy if he could take a photo of his stomach, lifting the boy’s shirt without permission, authorities said.
The boy’s parents were told of what happened and alerted Newtown Township police, who patrol Wrightstown Township.
During the closing arguments of the trial on Wednesday, Deputy District Attorney Sarah Heimbach said Lukens should be convicted.
“I don’t know if this family will ever get that sense of safety and security back,” she said. “Finding this defendant guilty is a start.”
Lukens is being held at the Bucks County Correctional Facility until sentencing.
