Former head of Pa. police department’s sex-crimes unit charged with sexually assaulting woman

Head of sex-crimes unit charged in Pa. sex assault

PHILADELPHIA — DNA evidence in an alleged sexual assault at a township building matches that of a sergeant who led a sex crimes unit in suburban Philadelphia, a district attorney said Tuesday.

Michael Marren, 41, was charged Monday in the alleged March 9 assault at the Bensalem Rescue Squad headquarters building, and has been fired from the Bensalem Police Department.

Marren’s DNA matches saliva found on the victim’s breast, Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said.

Yet Marren denied to investigators that he had any sexual contact with the woman.

“Saliva can be just as probative as semen, depending on the facts of the case,” Heckler said. “Here’s a situation where he claims nothing happened.”

According to the police complaint, the 41-year-old married father sexually assaulted a fellow squad volunteer after a night out at a bar to mourn a colleague’s death. Marren drove the woman back to the squad building at about 2:30 a.m. and assaulted her despite her efforts to dissuade him, the affidavit states. She warned that there were cameras in the area and that he was drunk and should stop what he was doing.

The woman was later found curled up in a closet in the building and taken to a hospital, authorities said.

A man who answered the phone Tuesday at Marren’s home in Huntingdon Valley hung up on a reporter.

However, his lawyer said the evidence will prove him innocent.

“He’s a police officer who has an excellent background and it’s not something that he would ever do,” lawyer Jack McMahon said. “Perceptions of what happened are skewed by alcohol and emotion.”

Marren was arraigned on numerous sexual assault charges on Monday and released on $100,000 bail. He is due in court for a preliminary hearing on April 27.