Radnor Township

A former Pennsylvania commissioner is charged with indecent assault for groping a 103-year-old woman in a Radnor Township nursing home.

Bill Spingler

A former Pennsylvania commissioner was arrested and charged with three counts of indecent assault on a person with a mental disability after police said he groped a 103-year-old woman with dementia.

Bill Spingler, a 75-year-old Chester County resident who previously served as a commissioner in Radnor Township and Delaware County, is accused of touching the victim's breasts during three visits this month, according to court documents.

Staff at Wayne Nursing Home in Delaware County observed the incidents on Dec. 15, 17 and 23, Radnor police said.

Police were first called to the nursing home on Dec. 16 for reports of an assault after two employees said Spingler put his hand under a blanket and touched the victim's breasts.

When Spingler saw the employees, he stopped, according to a police report.

Spingler returned the following day and again put his hand under a blanket and rubbed her breasts, the report said.

When he saw a nursing home employee watching him, "his face turned red and he immediately left the facility," according to court documents.

Police were called on Dec. 23 after a nursing home employee said she saw Spingler touch the victim a third time.

According to court documents, the nursing home employee confronted Spingler during that incident. He said, "What?" and left the facility, the report said.

An arrest warrant was issued Dec. 23.

Spingler was arraigned Friday. Bail was set at $10,000, and he was released on his own recognizance and ordered to have no contact with the nursing home patient.

A preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 5 before District Justice Leon Hunter.

Spingler, a Democrat, served as a commissioner for 34 years. He was a Delaware County commissioner from 1972 to 1980, and Radnor Township commissioner from 1969 to 1971 and 1991 to 2015.

He was serving as president of the township's board of commissioners when he retired last year.