PHILADELPHIA – A federal judge has sentenced Mark Bianchi, 46, of North Wildwood to 25 years in prison on charges he traveled to Eastern Europe to rape and molest boys.
Bianchi allegedly used money, trips and gifts to gain his victims trust before molesting and raping them.
The former North Wildwood hotel owner was sentenced Wednesday, May 27. He was convicted of having sex with or attempting to have sex with at least a half-dozen boys in the eastern European countries of Romania and Moldova on trips from
2003 to 2005.
Bianchi’s defense lawyer Pat Harris has said in published reports the defense was crippled by the government’s threat to have his Moldovan co-counsel charged with witness intimidation if he appeared in Philadelphia to testify. Harris says he expects his client would likely appeal the sentencing to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals within the next 10 days.
