Former Leola man convicted of sexually abusing three children

A former Leola man was convicted in March of sexually abusing three children from 2003 to 2008.

A Lancaster County jury found George Wakeley, 62, guilty of 17 charges, including eight charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, on March 18 after a two-day jury trial before Judge Jeffrey Conrad.

Wakeley is on supervised release -- the federal equivalent of probation -- until at least 2032 after serving at least six years in prison for three child pornography related crimes. Wakely pleaded guilty in that case and was sentenced in 2015, according to federal court and prison records.

Wakeley was living in York County when he was arrested in the current case in December 2022.

Assistant District Attorney Fritz Haverstick, who prosecuted the child sex abuse case, described the depravity of Wakeley’s actions during his closing argument, the district attorney’s office said.

“I thought I’d seen all of the evil and vile acts a man can do to a child, but then you see a man do something this depraved,” Haverstick said. “Who can come up with something that sick? George Wakeley, that’s who.”

In 2018, Northern Lancaster County Regional police started investigating Wakeley when one of his victims reported the abuse, the district attorney’s office said. The three victims' ages ranged from 5 to 12 years old, and the abuse happened at a residence on the 1500 block of Rothsville Road in Warwick Township.

In the earlier child pornography case, Wakeley asked his then-girlfriend, Lori Hilbourn, formerly of Leola, to take sexually explicit pictures of a young girl. Wakeley then posted them on the internet to share with others for child pornography.