North Londonderry Township's insurance company is paying $375,000 to the family of two four-year-old Swatara Township girls who were sexually assaulted in 2006 by former township police officer Michael Fernsler.



The girls' family claimed township police Chief Kevin Snyder and township manager Gordon Watts were told Fernsler had viewed child pornography on his police department computer, but allowed Fernsler to resign in 2005 without an investigation into the misconduct.



Snyder and Watts denied knowledge of Fernsler viewing child pornography at work, said John Gonzalez, the township's attorney. Fernsler admitted viewing adult pornography at work after his computer had crashed and was removed by township staff, court records state. Fernsler told investigators he viewed child pornography on his home computer five or six years earlier, court records state.



Snyder and Watts were dismissed from the lawsuit, and the township's insurance company agreed to pay the settlement all costs associated with the suit, Gonzalez said.



Fernsler, 36, who sometimes performed as "Chuckles the clown," is serving a 26-52-year sentence in the case, which will be followed by a 12-35-year sentence for abducting and trying to rape a 14-year-old girl in North Londonderry Township in 2007, the day before he was to be sentenced, while he was out on bail.

