August 21, 1997|By Scott Higham | Scott Higham,SUN STAFF
A pedophile who mailed child pornography to a Baltimore County teen before the teen, his brother and his father committed suicide could, if convicted, receive another three years behind bars on top of the 10-year term he is already serving, court records show.
A Baltimore judge has issued an arrest warrant for Peter Dudley Albertsen II, 35, ordering him to return from federal prison in North Carolina to face charges that he violated his probation in the years after he pleaded guilty in 1990 to sexually molesting Justin Wilke.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Edward J. Angeletti, who sentenced Albertsen seven years ago, found that new details in the case show that the pedophile may have violated his probation by stalking and harassing Justin until he ended his life last year at age 19.
"He'll be brought back, and I'll give him a chance to prepare for the hearing," the judge said yesterday.
If Albertsen is found guilty, Angeletti could impose the maximum sentence -- three years in state prison, which Albertsen would serve after he is released from federal prison. Angeletti said he will set a hearing after arrangements are made to return Albertsen to Baltimore.
Albertsen is being held at the Federal Correctional Institute in Butner, N.C. The attorney who represented him in the federal pornography case said yesterday he no longer represents the convicted pedophile.
"We have nothing to do with that case. It's a state matter," said federal Public Defender John Chamble. "I'm totally out of the picture."
Those who were close to Justin and his brother, Matt, said they were pleased with the judge's decision.
"To see him held accountable, even this late in the game, is satisfying," said the Rev. Ray Chase, a Roman Catholic priest who worked with the brothers at a Timonium shelter for abused and neglected children. "Additional incarceration means he has less access to harming other children. I know Justin and Matt would be real pleased."
Albertsen admitted that he sexually abused the brothers a decade ago after meeting them in 1985 at a Monkton summer camp, where he was a counselor.
Albertsen was arrested in 1990, indicted on a series of crimes. But state prosecutors later dropped the charges involving Matt and most of those involving Justin. In return, Albertsen pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse for molesting Justin.
Following the recommendations of state psychologists and prosecutors, Angeletti suspended Albertsen's three-year prison term and sentenced him to serve five years' probation with one key condition: stay away from Justin.
But Albertsen didn't stay away. According to letters, records and testimony that surfaced years later, Albertsen repeatedly stalked Justin, secretly attending his 1994 graduation from Loyola High School, showing up in the driveway of his home near Hereford and sending him long, desperate love letters.
In May 1995, Albertsen mailed a package to Justin for his 19th birthday from Germany, where he was living on a student visa. Inside was a videotape containing explicit images of child pornography. By mailing it into the United States, Albertsen had committed a federal crime.
For Justin and Matt and their father, Don Wilke, the tape represented their inability to keep Albertsen away. Devastated by the abuse of his sons and the breakup of his family, Don, 56, ended his life two days after Thanksgiving 1995, asphyxiating himself in his car.
Three months later, Justin ended his life the same way. In August 1996, Matt, 22, who believed he should have done more to protect his brother, completed the deadly circle. He funneled carbon monoxide into his car after driving deep into a Baltimore County cornfield.
Federal agents arrested Albertsen late last year after he returned from Germany to visit his mother in Baltimore. He pleaded guilty to sending the tape to Justin and received the maximum sentence last month -- 10 years in federal prison without parole.
With evidence from that investigation, state prosecutors began to build a case against Albertsen for violating his probation. Emmanuel Brown, chief of the sex crimes division for the Baltimore state's attorney's office, wrote to Angeletti on Aug. 17 that enough evidence existed to convict Albertsen, court records show.
He said Albertsen left letters, notes and gifts on Justin's car. He followed him to public places, such as Towson Town Center, and contacted him in the hallway of Loyola High School. Moreover, the prosecutor said, Albertsen mailed the tape during the five-year period of probation and confessed to the crime.
"It is clear that the defendant violated the condition of probation, which required no contact with the victim," Brown wrote to the judge. "The result of the defendant's continued violation of probation was the destruction of the Wilke family."
One of Matt's best friends said yesterday she was pleased with the judge's decision to rearrest Albertsen and return him to Baltimore for a hearing that could keep him behind bars for another three years.
"I like it," said Tina Mason, who met Matt at the camp where Albertsen worked more than 10 years ago. "It means one less of him on the streets for three more years."
Pub Date: 8/21/97
