Contractor to spend up to 50 years in prison for assault of Newtown boy

A 62-year-old man will spend the next 25 to 50 years in state prison for indecently assaulting an 11-year-old boy in Newtown Township in September 2021.

Jeffrey Todd Lukens, of Buckingham Township, had been working as a contractor at the boy’s home and was hired to remove bees from the basement when he inappropriately touched the boy on two different days while working on the project, the Bucks County District Attorney’s office said.

He was convicted in March, following a three-day trial, on felony counts of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age and unlawful contact with a minor, along with misdemeanor counts of corruption of minors, indecent assault and invasion of privacy.

In addition to the state prison sentence handed down by Common Pleas Judge Raymond F. McHugh, Lukens was determined to be a sexually violent predator.

While working on the project on Sept. 2, 2021, Lukens invited the boy to assist him and gave him a partial bee suit to wear to protect his face and upper body.

The boy was on a ladder and using a reciprocating saw to remove the bee’s nest when Lukens inappropriately touched the boy, and then lifted the boy’s shorts and took a cellphone picture of his thighs, the DAs office said. With the boy still on the ladder, Lukens continued to touch the boy, moving his hand under the boy’s shirt. He again inappropriately touched the boy and the boy got off the ladder and left when he felt Lukens lift his underwear away from his body, the DAs office said.

Lukens returned to the home on Sept. 6 to finish the project. Before he left, Lukens asked the boy if he could take a picture of his abdomen, lifting up his shirt without permission to snap a picture. The boy’s parents reported the incidents to the Newtown Township Police Department later that day. During the investigation, the DAs office said, police seized Lukens’ cellphone and uncovered deleted cellphone pictures showing the boy’s thighs, lower stomach, and upper pubic area.

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