Suspect in molesting is arrested

A U.S. marshal characterizes the sexual abuse case as horrendous.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
MASURY -- The grandmother of a suspect in sex crimes against children acknowledges she harbored him while trying to persuade him to surrender.
"I think I had him convinced," Thelma Miller said Tuesday after police arrested her 39-year-old grandson, Patrick M. Wahlen, who had been living in a shed behind her house.
Wahlen is in the Trumbull County Jail awaiting extradition to Mercer County, Pa., on sex-related charges involving children.
He was taken into custody about 8 a.m. by members of the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force, FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force, U.S. Marshals Service and Pennsylvania State Police.
Dean Michael, a federal marshal in Youngstown, said two teams of law enforcement officials searched two locations in Pennsylvania and two in Masury on Tuesday before locating Wahlen's hideout.
The charges
Wahlen, whose last known address was in Sharpsville, Pa., faces charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, sexual abuse of children, statutory sexual assault and corruption of a minor.
"It is the most horrendous case of children abuse I've seen," said Michael, who has 27 years of law enforcement experience. "It was a terrible thing that was going on there."
The marshal said the sexual activity had been going on for at least a year in Mercer County.
Miller said she had been feeding Wahlen for the past two weeks as he hid in the shed, acknowledging she knew her grandson was a wanted man.
She didn't tip off police to where they could find him because, she said, she loves him and was waiting for him to decide to surrender.
Lt. Mark Schau, commander of the state police barracks in Mercer, said it will be up to Ohio authorities to determine if they will charge Miller with harboring her grandson.
Miller said she knew the case involved children but didn't know the particulars.
Wanted since November
Wahlen had been wanted since Nov. 22, 2005, when state police in Mercer filed the charges.
He faces several unrelated misdemeanor charges in Ohio, Schau said.
Michael said the offenses involved several children between the ages of 3 and 13. He was uncertain of the relationship between the children and Wahlen.
Wahlen, Michael said, was captured on the second floor of a shed behind Miller's Brookfield Avenue home.
Wahlen was wrapped in an electric blanket under a tent in the shed, which was padlocked from the outside.
State police said the shed had electricity and a portable heat source.
It appeared someone was helping Wahlen hide out, Michael explained.
Miller said that though one door to the shed was locked from the outside, there was a second door that opened from the inside.
Criminal record
Michael said Wahlen has a minor criminal record that includes aggravated sexual assault.
Miller, a retiree who sometimes works as a cook, said she reared Wahlen because his mother abandoned him when he was 16 and his father hasn't been a part of his life.
Wahlen hasn't worked for about two years, Miller said, noting that he works as a mechanic when he is employed.
yovich@vindy.com