Ex-Harrisburg Church Deacon Labeled Sex Predator for Molesting Teen Girls

By Matt Miller
Pennlive
July 17, 2013

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/07/ex-harrisburg_deacon_is_labele.html


HARRISBURG — Former Harrisburg church deacon Albert Chambers Jr. is being freed from prison, but he won't escape his past as a child molester.

That was assured Wednesday when Dauphin County Judge Andrew H. Dowling branded Chambers as a sexually violent predator for abusing and taking explicit photos of two teenage girls he met through Antioch Tabernacle Church.

That designation under the state's Megan's Law means Chambers, 49, will have to register with police for life. And the cops will tell his neighbors about his crimes.

Yet Chambers, who worked with the church's youth group, told Dowling that he's not the same man who was arrested for those crimes nearly two years ago.

"I've gotten myself pretty much straightened out," he said. "I want to be an asset and help people."

Chambers pleaded guilty to child pornography charges and counts of indecent assault, corruption of minors, unlawful contact with minors and furnishing alcohol to minors in October.

Under a plea deal, Dowling sentenced him to 11 1/2 to 23 months in county prison, meaning he'll be released promptly because he has been behind bars since his August 2011 arrest. The judge also imposed a consecutive 10-year probation term.

City police said Chambers met his victims through the tabernacle's youth group and molested them at his home.

"I'm truly remorseful," Chambers said during his sentencing hearing. "I've learned a lot. I know now the wrongness of everything I've done."

"I've also gotten inside myself, made a change in myself. I want to be able to continue to correct myself."

Chambers, who said he intends to move to North Carolina, insisted that he's made great strides through sex offender counseling. His sex predator designation means he'll have to continue such counseling monthly until he dies.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gettle read Chambers the other restrictions his predator label entails. He will, for example, will be barred from having contact with children and be banned from areas where they congregate, such as schools and playgrounds.

His Internet use will be curbed as well.

Contact: mmiller@pennlive.com