A Bucks County piano teacher sexually assaulted kids as young as 5 in their homes for years, DA says

A Bucks County piano teacher sexually assaulted four of his students in their homes over a period of several years, prosecutors said Friday, and one victim told investigators he was molested nearly 50 times.

Timothy Shay, 49, has been charged with indecent assault against a person younger than 13 and corruption of minors after the victims, now adults, came forward to describe the abuse.

Bucks County District Attorney Jenn Schorn said she is concerned that Shay — who taught music privately for decades — may have victimized more children. He was still advertising his classes on social media days before his arrest, she said.

“This person was a wolf in sheep’s clothing and used his position to satisfy his sexual deviancy,” she said, adding that her office “will not abide” people who prey on children.

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Shay remained in custody Friday in lieu of $1 million bail. His attorney, Michael Parlow, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Investigators first learned of the abuse on Feb. 6 after a report was made to the state Department of Human Services’ ChildLine system. The person who made that report, according to Schorn, was a mandated reporter who had spoken to one of the alleged victims about the abuse he had suffered as a child.

The man later told police Shay had taught him piano in private lessons at his home in Middletown Township beginning when he was 5 years old and continuing from 1998 to 2003. During those lessons, he said, Shay massaged his wrists, telling him it would help him warm up, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Shay’s arrest.

Gradually, he said, Shay started touching more of his body, including his neck and abdomen, and eventually, groped his groin underneath his clothing, the affidavit said.

From that interview, detectives learned about another man who said Shay inappropriately touched him during piano lessons when he was a boy, beginning with warm-up massages, and also pressed down on the area above his groin to help “exercise the bladder,” according to the affidavit.

Those two victims knew each other, Schorn said.

Two other men who said Shay victimized them as children also came forward to report similar abuse, the district attorney said, and they lived in nearby Newtown.

The Newtown victims said Shay massaged them at their homes before their piano lessons and would touch their necks, abdomens, and groins over their clothing, according to the affidavit. The men said the abuse occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when they were under 13.

Shay is scheduled to appear in district court for a preliminary hearing on April 17.

Anyone with information about similar abuse by Shay is urged to contact Middletown Police at 215-949-1000. Tipsters may remain anonymous.