Defense: Moorestown Cop's Sex Assault Trial a 'Conspiracy,' 'Witch Hunt'

The sexual assault case against a Moorestown cop and his former girlfriend is a conspiracy initiated by one man to hide that he impregnated his teenage stepdaughter, a defense attorney told the jury Tuesday in closing arguments.

Robert Melia and ex-girlfriend Heather Lewis, who are being tried together, stand accused of 47 counts stemming from the alleged assaults of three teenage girls.

Both defense attorneys were in lockstep that the state’s case rested on dishonest witnesses who admittedly changed their story several times during the investigation.

“This case is filled with nothing but reasonable doubt,” said Lewis' attorney, Bonnie Geller-Gorman. “It’s like Swiss cheese.”

Geller-Gorman said one man kicked off the “witch hunt”—the stepfather of one of the accusers. The teen confided to Lewis that she and the stepfather were having a sexual relationship and she was pregnant, attorneys said, so the stepfather began laying the tracks for a sexual assault case against Melia and Lewis to divert from paternity questions.

The stepfather convinced the teen to make accusations against the pair, and to contact two other alleged victims to make the same accusations, Geller-Gorman argued.

Meanwhile, Melia’s attorney, Mark Catanzaro, argued that the state overlooked obvious discrepancies in a haste to prosecute a high-profile case involving a police officer. Melia had gained notoriety when a video surfaced of him allegedly engaged in sex acts with calves on a New Jersey farm. Those charges were dismissed. 

Melia currently is suspended from the .

The case has laid bare details of Melia and Lewis’ sex life, including the pair’s interest in bondage and pornography.

Jurors also saw a video of an accuser, blindfold and bound, penetrated with various objects and performing sex acts.

The prosecution maintains the girl was incapacitated, while the defense argued that the jury saw a consensual bondage video. The accuser testified earlier that she did not consent to anything seen on the video and does not remember it taking place.

“How many of us have been embarrassed by youthful indiscretions?” Catanzaro asked in arguing the accuser is lying. “How many of us lied to prevent those things from coming to light?”

Melia is not seen or heard on the video; Lewis is. Prosecutors suggested Melia recorded the video, which was found on his computer. The defense denied that Melia was present when the video was shot in his Moorestown home. Lewis, who moved to Pemberton after she broke up with Melia, also testified that Melia wasn’t present.

Catanzaro spent much of his closing emphasizing the changing stories of the accusers. The accuser impregnated by her stepfather wavered on the age she was when the alleged abuse began and how many times various sex acts had occurred, Catanzaro said. Another lied about her age when she appeared in the video, he added, and the accusers had contact with each other during the investigation despite claiming they did not know each other.

Don’t be swayed by asking “so what?” on the timeline, Catanzaro told jurors, advising that the details vary too greatly.

“Can we forgive years? That’s what you have to do (to convict). You have to forgive years,” he said.

“Are you comfortable convicting someone based on the testimony of someone who admittedly lied over and over again?” he asked later.

Both attorneys implored jurors to acquit on all of the counts against Melia and Lewis. If convicted, they face life in prison.

“You can’t give Mr. Melia his life and reputation back,” Catanzaro said, “but you can do what’s right and what’s just.”

The jury has overnight to consider the defense’s case before the prosecution presents its closing arguments at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the Mt. Holly courtroom. The jury likely will begin deliberations on Wednesday.

Editor’s note: Patch does not name victims of alleged sex crimes without their permission.