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Sugar Cookie

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State Police have revealed more information about the arrest of Thomas Dewald for child abduction and attempted burglary.

The 20-year-old Dewald is accused of abducting a 4-year-old girl on April 25 in Washington Township.

Dewald is believed to have entered the 4-year-old's home through an unlocked door.

On April 25, troopers responded to a report of a missing girl at around 3:30 a.m.

According to documents, the girl's father woke up at 3 a.m. to use the bathroom when he saw the girl's bedroom door cracked open and the front door was "ajar."

He searched the house for the girl before calling police. There were two other children in the home during this time.

Police say a passerby then found the 4-year-old later that morning, standing along, about two and half miles away from where she was taken.

On April 29, a trooper spoke with the home owner of a residence located directly beside where the girl was found.

According to the affidavit, the homeowner said her grandson, Thomas Dewald, had been living with her for around 4 to 5 weeks.

The woman went on to say that on the day the 4-year-old went missing, she heard a baby crying in Dewald's bedroom that seemed to be coming from the wall with an air conditioning unit, but couldn't find the exact source, according to documents.

Police say upon entering the bedroom, troopers found a large wooden chest directly under the air conditioning unit.

After obtaining a search warrant, state police found long blonde hair inside the wooden chest and large strips of black tape.

The black tape had shoe print imprints, along with dirt, grass and long blonde hair stuck to it, according to police.

The affidavit says Dewald returned home and admitted to his involvement the child abduction.

During questioning, police say Dewald admitted to searching for children playing unsupervised in yards with no video surveillance nearby.

He told officers he saw children at two residences in particular that he felt lived in "deplorable conditions," according to the affidavit.

Documents go on to say that Dewald told police he entered the home of the 4-year-old girl through an unlocked front door and took her from the bedroom. He said he would have taken her male sibling but he was "too heavy."

Dewald said he brought the girl back to his residence where he laid in bed with her fully dressed, according to the affidavit.

He said during this interaction his penis became erect and "might" have touched her clothing. He also told authorities that he masturbated near the child, according to police.

Dewald told police he bound the 4-year-old girl with tape and placed her in the wooden chest, telling her he would return around noon, according to documents.

Police say when Dewald returned home, the girl was no longer in the wooden chest and he was unsure how she escaped from being bound.
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And what’s up with grandma? Heard a baby crying in grandsons room but couldn’t narrow it down-how many places could there be to look?
Also wonder why he’s been living with her for the past 5 weeks. They need to check his history and where he came from. Was moving in with granny a geographical solution to an on going problem-hard to believe this is his first rodeo.
 
Good escape by that little girl— she’s a survivor!


No way! Grandma found the little girl n put her outside. Asshat said he “bound” her with black tape and put her inside a wooden chest. Idk if said chest was locked, latched or had anything on top holding it down but even still I don’t see a traumatized 4 yr old getting herself free from being taped up while inside the chest getting out of the chest n then finding her way out of the Asshats room/house etc ALL while not running into Grandma trying to find her way out of a strangers house AND crying! ... I could be wrong but sounds to me Grandma found where the crying was coming from n freaked the fuck out. In a panic just took the tape off the little one n told her to go home as she pushed her out the door. The poor thing probably had no idea where she was or how to get home so she just sat on the side of the road. Nonetheless just end the Dick-Fucks life now.
 
There is quite obviously something seriously wrong with this dude. Besides the apparent... is he autistic or there isn't that plastic thing holding his 6-pack together. He needs psychiatric help when in prison.
 
If Grandma set her loose, and I really think she did, she obviously didn't care whether the FOUR YEAR OLD got hit by a car or even abducted again as she stood beside the road. So I'm not giving grandma any passes, as she obviously didn't care what happened to the child as long as grandma, herself, wasn't involved in it.

4yos can be little Houdinis but I don't believe this baby could defeat the tape, the chest, and get out of the house all without being seen or heard by someone in the house. Because she was terrified and would have been looking and calling for the first familiar face.
 
If Grandma set her loose, and I really think she did, she obviously didn't care whether the FOUR YEAR OLD got hit by a car or even abducted again as she stood beside the road. So I'm not giving grandma any passes, as she obviously didn't care what happened to the child as long as grandma, herself, wasn't involved in it.

4yos can be little Houdinis but I don't believe this baby could defeat the tape, the chest, and get out of the house all without being seen or heard by someone in the house. Because she was terrified and would have been looking and calling for the first familiar face.

Yeah, I didn't even think about it until @NicNac22 mentioned it, but there's no fucking way Grandma isn't involved if the kid's not lying about how he left the girl. And I doubt she's smart enough not to leave lots of trace evidence. Hope the cops are worth a damn.
 
And what’s up with grandma? Heard a baby crying in grandsons room but couldn’t narrow it down-how many places could there be to look?
Also wonder why he’s been living with her for the past 5 weeks. They need to check his history and where he came from. Was moving in with granny a geographical solution to an on going problem-hard to believe this is his first rodeo.
50 bucks says he was removed for touching his siblings or something st his folks house
 
50 bucks says he was removed for touching his siblings or something st his folks house
There use to be someone on this forum who was a whiz at finding out all kinds of obscure backgrounds. I can’t remember who it was, but could use their skills on this.
 
@GoneWest You're probably thinking of me. I've done the research, here's what I've found.

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  • Police spoke with the homeowner, who said her grandson, identified as Dewald, had been living there for the past four to five weeks.
  • Police said Dewald admitted to kidnapping Gemma when they talked with him.
  • He also said he was responsible for an attempted burglary that had been reported at about 3:45 a.m., Sunday, in the 14000 block of Lower Edgemont Road.
  • He claimed to have been in Gemma's residence for an hour after entering through an unlocked front door before he took the girl from her bedroom. He said he would have taken Gemma's brother from the residence, too, but he would have been too heavy.
  • Dewald had previously been found to have indecently assaulted a child, according to court records obtained by the York Daily Record/Sunday News.
  • In a petition of delinquency filed in Franklin County, Thomas Dewald, then 16, was alleged to have committed aggravated indecent assault of a child and indecent assault of a person less than 13. The case was filed on Jan. 28, 2015.
  • …[C]ourt documents do indicate that the first charge was withdrawn and that Dewald was adjudicated delinquent of the other charge. Eventually, the case was listed as, "Termination of Supervision - Conditions Satisfied."
  • High school classmates of a Waynesboro man accused of abducting a 4-year-old girl and hiding her in a wooden chest said he wrote a "hit list" of fellow students while he was a senior at Millville High School in Columbia County.
  • Life hasn't been the same for [grandmother] Joan McFadden since she returned home from breakfast April 29.
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  • It's been five years since he last spoke to his son — five years since he's even seen a photograph of him, Mark Dewald said.
  • Mark Dewald said Thomas was just a kid when he and his mother got divorced. "It was only six years ago, but it seems a lot longer."
  • Thomas was their oldest son, but not their only child, Mark Dewald said. He said Thomas had siblings, but he didn't wish to share any further details about the rest of his family.
  • Mark Dewald wasn't able to comment on what his son has been doing in the last few years. In fact, he said, he didn't even know Thomas was back in the area until his ex-wife [Cheryl McFadden?] called him on the telephone, telling him their son had been arrested.
  • The last time he spoke to his son, he was a freshman in high school, Mark Dewald said. The principal at Millville High School, a school about 140 miles away in Columbia County, said Thomas graduated in 2017.
  • But as for his relationship with his son, that's something that will never be mended, he said. "I don’t really have a reason to talk to him anymore or ever again, as far as I'm concerned."
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  • A Waynesboro man accused of abducting a 4-year-old girl and locking her in a wooden chest had previously been found to have indecently assaulted a child, according to court records obtained by the York Daily Record/Sunday News.
  • Dewald, now 20, …[is] charged with kidnapping, burglary, false imprisonment of a minor and related offenses.
  • Dewald is being held without bail in Franklin County Jail. He’s set to have a preliminary hearing on May 14.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  • Former classmate Grace Boone said she understood that Dewald was part of one of the special education classes at the school.
  • When asked about the "hit list," Millville High School Principal Eric Stair said the district does not comment on students’ educational records. Millville Area School District Supt. Cynthia Jenkins was unavailable for comment.
  • Cheryl McFadden, Dewald’s mother, said she was not able to comment about the “hit list.”
  • Dewald was arraigned on the abduction-related charges against him on the morning of Tuesday, April 30. He was sent to Franklin County Prison after he was denied bail. Online court records indicate the judge denied bail to "ensure the safety of the community."
  • His preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. on May 14 in Franklin County Central Court.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  • A rescue dog, who was once called “unadoptable,” saved his adoptive family from an intruder who was wanted for kidnapping their 4-year-old neighbor a few days before the break-in.
  • [The dog's owner Thom} Lambert immediately suspected that it was Thomas Dewald, a 20-year-old suspect who allegedly abducted 4-year-old Gemma Moats from the same neighborhood on April 25. While the girl escaped, Dewald had not been arrested.
  • The suspect [Thomas Dewald] told the police that he “saved” Moats from “deplorable conditions,” while he decided not to abduct the Lambert children as their living condition was “acceptable.”
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Let me know if anyone needs further research in the future.
 
Sept. 26, 2019
The Waynesboro man charged in the kidnapping of his 4-year-old neighbor last spring says someone else did it and that person had been following him.

The victim’s mother, however, believes the suspect, Thomas Dewald, has become bored and scared while sitting in jail since his arrest in April and is now trying to do whatever he can to improve his prospects.

In a hand-written letter to a Public Opinion reporter, 20-year-old Dewald alleges there is more to the case than there appears to be — and police have been covering it up.

“While my current legal team may not approve of this letter, I personally do not care,” he says in the letter, sent about four months after the reporter first wrote to him.

Dewald is accused of kidnapping a little girl, Gemma Moats, from her home on Pen Mar Road, Washington Township, in the early hours of April 25.

In court documents, Pennsylvania State Police say Dewald admitted to the kidnapping and described many related details.

Dewald allegedly told investigators he had first scoped out the neighborhood, looking for children who were playing while unsupervised. He said he targeted homes that he thought appeared "deplorable."

He told police he walked through an unlocked door and spent about an hour in Moats' house before taking the child from her bedroom, according to court documents. He added that he considered abducting an older male sibling, but he "would have been too heavy to take."

Police said Dewald told them he took Moats to his grandparents' home, about a mile south on Harbaugh Church Road. He had been living there for about five weeks.

According to court documents, Dewald said he became aroused while lying next to Moats, and his penis "might have" touched her through their clothing — then he masturbated next to her.

After that, he said he taped her up to restrict her movement and put her in a wooden chest in the room. As if it were a normal day, he left for work around 6:30 a.m. When he returned around noon, she was gone.


In his letter, Dewald questions the validity of police saying he admitted to the kidnapping and the "illegal" tactics he says police used to talk to him.

"I wish to start this small talk of a letter by saying, don't you think it's odd that I plead not guilty? Don't you think it's odd that the police has not released any part of their 'confession?'" he says.

In his letter, Dewald claims Moats identified "a completely different person" from him. He does not share how he knows this.

"After all, the true person whom took her has been following me, though why is the question, is it not?" he adds.

He goes on to question the "strange practices" of the investigators who interviewed Moats and suggests the 4-year-old used vocabulary too advanced for her age.

"It was almost like she was told what to say," he writes.

Moats' mother, Stephanie Moats, was outraged at this suggestion. Her preschool-age daughter had been terrorized during her experience, she said, and would not have been able to lie about what happened to her.

She recalled an experience a couple of weeks after the kidnapping in which her daughter wanted to make sure "Tom can't get (her) again." Why would she say this if she did not actually fear Dewald, she said.

"He's just pulling it along now," and has become scared and bored in jail, Stephanie Moats said.
 
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