Boys Choir Founder Faces 1,100 Sex Abuse Charges

K. Bernard Schade already faces charges in a 1996 case.

The Morning Call reports: “Already facing trial for allegedly raping a boy in 1996, K. Bernard Schade, the founder of the Singing Boys of Pennsylvania choir, is facing more than 1,100 more charges for sexual abuse of children, according to a state police investigation.”

The charges stem from a search warrant served on April 1 at Schade’s home in Middle Smithfield Township, state police at Swiftwater said Monday. State police said Schade, 74, will face a charge each of criminal solicitation and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and 1,101 counts of sexual abuse of children for possessing child pornography.

The Singing Boys choir, originally known as the Pocono Boy Singers, has had thousands of members over the decades, performing throughout the United States and in several other nations. Schade founded the choir of boys from Monroe and Northampton counties in 1970.