READING >> Mark Drey, the former director of a Birdsboro community theater, was sentenced Monday to state prison for sexually assaulting young boys at the theater.
Drey, 57, of the 800 block of Fernleigh Place, Exeter Township, the co-founder and director of the former Alpha Omega Players, was sentenced to 41/2 to 10 years for involuntary deviant sexual intercourse and unlawful contact with a minor. He was also ordered to serve seven years of special probation, for a total period of supervision of 17 years, for endangering the welfare of a child.
“He victimized two juvenile males at critical points in their lives when they were looking for guidance,” Berks County Assistant District Attorney Carmen Bloom said. “They and their parents trusted him, and that makes him particularly predatory in my opinion.”
Drey pleaded guilty to the charges in September, according to court records.
In March 2014, Drey started engaging in sexual conversations and exchanging explicit photos via text message. On at least two occasions, according to court documents, Drey inappropriately touched the boy while in a dressing room in the theater.
In September 2014, he was arrested and charged for those acts. A month later, a former voice student of Drey’s told police that Drey engaged in sexual conversations over Facebook and performed at least on sexual act with the minor in 2012.
Pre-sentencing investigations and evaluations from the sexually violent predator assessment board determined that Drey is a sexual violent predator, and will have to register as such for the rest of his life. He was also ordered to have no unsupervised contact with unrelated minors and no contact with the victims, Bloom said.
Drey was also barred from the grounds of any schools and from any extracurricular activities on or off school properties. Finally, Bloom said that Drey was banished from returning to the former Alpha and Omega Players, now known as First Street Theater, 301 E. First St. in Birdsboro.
