LANCASTER, Pa. — A Lancaster man charged last year in a cold case sexual assault from 1997 faces additional charges after investigators executed a search warrant at his home, prosecutors said this week.
Eric Dorwart, 54, of the 500 block of Pleasure Road, now faces charges of photographing, filming, depicting a computer sex act with a child under 18; possessing child pornography; rape of a child; involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child; and aggravated indecent assault of a child, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office.
State Police executed the search warrant and found two laptops, which Dorwart’s family member indicated were used by the defendant. An iPhone was also found in the garage of the home, according to prosecutors.
A subsequent search warrant on the iPhone yielded approximately 464 images of fetish material, with 61 images consistent with child pornography involving infant and toddler-aged victims, authorities claim.
Search warrants executed on the laptops indicated there were 1,672 images consistent with child pornography and associated erotica, according to authorities. Of those images, 167 were identified as Dorwart engaged in sexual contact with three separate prepubescent children.
State Police continues to investigate to identify the victims, who were discovered to be infants that the Dorwart family may have babysat, according to prosecutors. Anyone with information who can assist in identifying the victims and any additional potential victims can contact Pennsylvania State Police Troopers Dakota Baer or Brian McNally at (717) 299-7650.
Dorwart was charged last October for a cold case sexual assault occurring in 1997 outside of the victims’ home in Gordonville, Leacock Township. He is charged with sexually assaulting a 7-year-old and 5-year-old victim in that case, prosecutors said. DNA evidence was collected in 1997 and the suspect containing that DNA profile was charged in 2002.
From 2002 through 2022, the suspect’s DNA profile yielded negative results when periodically checked in CODIS. Investigators eventually identified Dorwart as a suspect and removed trash from the front of his home that was left at the end of the driveway for street pickup on May 8, 2023.
State Police investigators swabbed items recovered from the trash for DNA and on July 17, 2023, a review from the forensic DNA laboratory showed the DNA profile obtained from the trash matched the DNA saved as evidence from the sexual assault in 1997, authorities claim.
Dorwart waived his preliminary hearing Oct. 17, 2023, on charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of a person less than 13, indecent assault of a person less than 15, and two counts of corruption of minors and will face those charges in Lancaster County Court.
Dorwart was released on $25,000 unsecured bail on the cold case charges. He is currently in custody and pending arraignment on the new charges.
All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Dakota Baer filed charges.
