An 18-year-old Perkiomen man serving jail time for having indecent contact with two girls won’t be eligible for a work-release program until May, a judge has ruled.
Colby Joseph Davis, of Tudor Road, who has been in the Montgomery County jail since Feb. 3, was made eligible for work release as of May 1, according to an order issued Thursday by Judge William J. Furber Jr. By that time, Davis will have served about three months of the total six-to-23-month jail term Furber imposed against him in February.
During the February sentencing hearing, Furber indicated he would not grant work release immediately but would consider such a request at a later date. Defense lawyer William E. Moore filed a work release request on behalf of Davis this week.
“(Davis) has no criminal history and was gainfully employed at the time of his sentence,” Moore wrote in court papers.
Under work release, inmates can leave the jail only for scheduled work hours, nothing more. Inmates must return directly to the jail upon completing their work shifts.
In February, Furber likened Davis to a “snake in the grass” that preyed on teenage girls at underage drinking parties and imposed the jail term plus two years’ probation against Davis.
Davis pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of indecent assault and simple assault in connection with incidents that occurred between Oct. 3 and Oct. 31, 2009 during underage drinking parties involving Perkiomen Valley High School students at two Skippack homes where allegedly there was little parental oversight.
With the plea, Davis admitted that he touched the girls inappropriately without their consent. Davis was 17 at the time of the assaults but was prosecuted as an adult.
As a result of the guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed more serious felony charges of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault against Davis, who could have faced decades in prison if convicted of those charges at trial.
The issue of teen drinking at suburban homes where there allegedly was little parental supervision was at the root of the allegations against Davis. A Skippack man who allegedly permitted an underage Halloween party at his home where one of the assaults occurred is awaiting trial on a misdemeanor charge of corruption of a minor.
Prosecutor Samantha Cauffman compared Davis to “a master hunter” who knew the best hunting location for vulnerable girls would be underage drinking parties and that the easiest prey would be girls who consumed alcohol.
“In both of these incidents, Davis saw females drinking alcohol in a group setting and used a ploy to separate them from the rest of the group. He then asked the girls to have sex with him and forced himself upon them when they refused his advances,” state police
Trooper Paul J. Carr Jr. alleged in the arrest affidavit.
An investigation of Davis began on Nov. 1, 2009, when a 17-year-old girl alleged that she had been assaulted by Davis while attending a Halloween party the night before at a Mountain Laurel Circle residence in Skippack.
The girl told police she arrived at the party at 10:30 p.m., drank alcohol and socialized with Davis, who was a classmate at Perkiomen Valley High School, according to court documents.
Davis propositioned the girl for sex and the girl “repeatedly told him no,” Carr alleged in the arrest affidavit. Despite the girl’s protests, Davis had non-consensual indecent contact with the girl, authorities alleged.
While investigating the Oct. 31 assault, police became aware of a second indecent assault involving Davis. A second girl told police Davis assaulted her while she attended a party where alcohol was served on a Saturday night in October at a Saddlebrook Road home in Skippack, according to the arrest affidavit. Davis led the girl to a secluded area behind some trees and had indecent contact with her when the girl refused his sexual advances, police alleged.
