Delco authorities suspect serial pedophile had other victims
Serial rapist Hugh Taussig-Lux of Media may have preyed on other children. Authorities in Delaware County are urging parents to talk with their children — and alert police if they suspect their children attended one of his parties and may have been assaulted there.
Hugh Taussig-Lux plucked his young victims from playgrounds and parks. He used video games and the thrill of secret teen parties to lure them back to his apartment in Media, Delaware County.
There, he gave them liquor, marijuana and other drugs and played games of “Truth or Dare” and “Spin the Bottle” while encouraging them to strip off their clothes.
Then he pounced.
Over 18 months, Taussig-Lux attacked a dozen children as young as 12, raping and sexually assaulting them after first getting them drunk or stoned — and, in one case, comatose with a date-rape drug.
Taussig-Lux, 20, of Media, now is in the state prison at Graterford after he pleaded guilty Feb. 24 to rape of a child, corruption of minors, indecent assault and related offenses, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan announced Tuesday. Common Pleas Judge Kevin F. Kelly sentenced him to 13 1/2 to 27 years in prison and ordered his lifetime registration as a sex offender.
Still, authorities fear there could be many more victims who never reported abuse.
So Whelan, Media Police Chief Martin Wusinich and other authorities outlined Taussig-Lux’s sick scheme at a news conference Tuesday. They urged parents to talk with their children and alert police if they suspect their children attended one of his parties and may have been assaulted there.
“As a common-sense matter, we have reasonable belief there are other victims out there, (because) there were a lot of kids at these parties,” Whelan said. “We will aggressively prosecute other cases.”
A former Penncrest High School student, Taussig-Lux first caught authorities’ attention when he was 18, Whelan said. Police suspected he supplied juveniles from Media, Upper Providence, Middletown and surrounding areas with illegal drugs and alcohol, he said.
Then someone reported to the Rose Tree Media School District he had inappropriate sexual contact with a minor, and Media Police Officer Nicole Young began piecing together a pattern of abuse in which she eventually identified eight female victims, ages 12 to 15, and four male victims, ages 14 and 15.
Investigators believe the abuse took place over 18 months, from the summer of 2014 until Taussig-Lux’s arrest May 25. Most of the assaults occurred in his apartment in the 100 block of East Baker Street.
Taussig-Lux met some of his victims in Glen Providence Park and lured others from the playground at Media Elementary School, Whelan said, primarily when school was out of session.
“Please, parents, have the conversation with your kids,” Media Mayor Robert McMahon said. “Come forward if they have been a victim.”
To report a possible sexual assault, call Officer Young at (610) 565-6656.
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