Police: Man offered free tattoo for sex with underage girl

A southeastern Pennsylvania man accused of trading a tattoo for sex with an underage girl now faces sex charges involving more than a dozen other children as young as 4 years old, most of them the children of friends and girlfriends. Walter Meyerle, 34, of Falls, faces nearly 200 sex crime counts on allegations that he sexually assaulted two adults and 14 children, according to Bucks County prosecutors. The assaults took place over the past 13 years and involved children ranging in age from 4 to 17 years old. Meyerle was arrested in March for allegedly giving a teen girl a tattoo in return for sexual favors. After that arrest, authorities said, additional victims began to come forward after seeing and hearing publicity about the case. That prompted police and prosecutors to undertake a massive investigation involving many interviews. Meyerle was arraigned Friday on charges including aggravated indecent assault, statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors and was being held on $5 million bail. Dressed in a yellow prison jumpsuit, he said little during the hearing. The judge told him not to contact any of the victims from jail and asked the same of Meyerle's wife, who authorities said is under investigation as well.