'Serial Rapist' May Have Other Victims, DA Says

A Bethlehem man who allegedly blamed his sex addiction for the rape of two teens he met on Facebook may have other victims, Northampton County's District Attorney said Wednesday.

John Morganelli says police interviews with David Martinez, 20, suggest he met and sexually assaulted other girls. As he prepares to prosecute the case, he's hoping to hear from other young women who were targeted by Martinez.

"We do consider him a person of danger and a serial rapist," Morganelli told reporters at a news conference at his office.

Martinez -- who is in Northampton County Prison on $100,000 bail -- allegedly raped one of the girls last February and the other last September. He raped the girls – one was 14, the other 17 -- on the couch inside his home at 421 Maple St., court records say.

He was charged this week with rape and rape by forcible compulsion, three counts of indecent assault, two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, two counts of sexual assault and one count of statutory sexual assault.

He met both girls on Facebook, Morganelli said, and added that Martinez also befriended other women "daily" using the social networking site.

His statements to police have led investigators to believe he targeted other young women in the same manner as the two girls, Morganelli said.

And although the two girls lived fairly close to Martinez -- one in Bethlehem, the other in Catasauqua -- Morganelli said there's no reason to assume his victims were only local women.

He asked anyone who thinks they were victimized by Martinez to call Bethlehem Police Detective Moses Miller at 610-997-7674 or the DA's office at 610-559-3020.

"We feel this man is a danger to the community," Morganelli said, adding that he and police don't want to ignore other cases.

According to court records, Martinez met the girls on Facebook, started exchanging text messages with them, then arranged to actually meet them. Once at his home, he would sit with them on the couch, make sexual advances, and when they resisted, he would pin them to the couch and rape them.

In the case of the first girl -- who was 14 when Martinez allegedly raped her in February 2012 -- he pinned her on the couch and forced sex on her.

The teen started crying and telling him to stop, and he slapped her in the mouth, causing a bruised lip. He went to an upstairs bathroom and when he came down, she told him she was leaving. After she left, he texted her to “delete my number.”

Police say the second girl told essentially the same story. When interviewed, Martinez allegedly apologized for what he had done and said he was trying to become a "follower of Christ." 

Morganelli said Martinez told investigators he was a sex addict, and unable to control himself.

"When he was in the presence of a woman, he felt compelled to have sex with her," Morganelli said. "He felt sorry, but he couldn't control it."

But Morganelli dismissed the notion that some sort of pscyhological issue led Martinez to commit the crimes he's accused of. He said he's more interested in prosecuting the case.

"I guess anything's possible," he said. "I see him as a serial rapist. What his motive is, that's not my concern."