Child Molestation Charges Against Pedophile Nudist Dropped
The Mercury, August 7, 1984

Palmerton--charges of child molestation at a Carbon County nudist camp were dismissed Monday against a North Coventry man and a New Jersey man after the 11-year-old alleged victim told police he didn't want to testify. 
     In a brief presentation before Special Court Judge Willard Steigerwalt, Palmerton, Carbon County Assistant District Attorney Gary Dobias said the boy was "scared, and had trouble remembering some incidents." He said after more than an hour's consultation with the Bryn Mawr boys and his parents, they decided to withdraw the charges against Paul Zimmer, 42 Coventryville road and Robert J Schumann, Clarksburg, N.J. 
     The blond-haired boy sat in the back of the tiny courtroom flanked by his parents. He fidgeted in his chair, kicking his feet. The boy's father sat with his arms crossed tightly as the decision was announced. 
     The two suspects were charged with sexually assaulting the boy in separate incidents in mid-June during a weekend outing at the Sunny Rest Lodge Nudist Camp in Franklin Township near Palmerton. Zimmer, a family friend hired to tutor the boy, said he was given permission by the boy's parents to take the juvenile to the nudist camp for the weekend. 
     State police at Lehighton charged Zimmer with involuntary, deviate sexual intercourse; indecent assault; and corruption of minors for allegedly molesting the boy on June 16 andÊ17. Schumann was charged with molesting the boy at the camp on June 17. 
     After Judge Steigerwalt dismissed the charges, Schumann turned to Zimmer and said he wanted nothing to do with him or his organization The Newborn Rights Society, a group opposed to circumcision. 
     "This is it," he said. "I'm out of your group, understand? I'm out." Zimmer, who founded the group, nodded. 
     "I'm glad this is all over," Schumann said to a reporter. "I was not guilty. I'll admit I had a problem before. I got involved in his organization, the Newborn Rights Society, because I thought I could do some good. I thought I was involved with a good family man. But it didn't turn out that way at all." 
     Schumann declined to elaborate. Zimmer said he was pleased with the outcome of the case. "Obviously I'm happy about it," he said. 
     State Trooper Clark A. Ritter said he knew nothing about Zimmer's claim that other people were involved with the boy at the camp. 
     Zimmer, a former physics teacher at Gwynedd-Mercy College, was recently ordered to stand trial in Delaware County Court on l5 charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and indecent assault, and one count each sexual abuse of children and of corrupting the morals of a minor in connection with a series of assaults on the 11-year-old boy who he had been hired to tutor at his Bryn Mawr home.

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