Teens accuse businessman of sexual assault

A local businessman faces charges after two 17 year old boys told police he sexually assaulted them, beginning when they were young children.

Richard “Dick” Dennis Singer, 62, of 6714 Kimberwick Court in Gainesville, was arrested after the teens, who are related to Singer, reported the abuse to police on Sept. 17, said Prince William police spokeswoman Erika Hernandez.

Singer is charged with two counts of aggravated sexual battery, one count of forcible battery, and with taking indecent liberties with minor.

The victims were both 10 years old when the assaults began, said Hernandez, who released the information about the arrest for the first time Monday.

The assaults took place in Prince William County, but Hernandez could not release how many times the victims were assaulted.

Singer is listed as CEO and President of Singer and Associates, a Manassas-based firm which specializes in the sale of fire and rescue equipment to agencies in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.

Someone answering the phone at Singer and Associates hung up on a News & Messenger reporter Monday afternoon.

According to a Singer company newsletter published this summer, 11 Virginia fire and rescue agencies — including Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington, Spotsylvania and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority — recently placed orders to Singer for new firefighting equipment. They included orders for water pumping and tanker fire trucks.

Prince William County in the past hired the Singer company to maintain their fire and rescue apparatus, however, a spokeswoman did not have information on how much, if any, firefighting equipment the county purchased from Singer.

The newsletter also details orders to various fire and rescue agencies in Maryland.

In the summer newsletter, Singer wrote poor economic conditions affected his business.

“The Washington, D.C./Baltimore metropolitan area is known as “recession proof” due to the large federal government influences both downtown and in the suburbs. While we are experiencing a slight slowdown, that is nothing like other sections of the county are reporting,” Singer wrote.

In 2007, the company consolidated its offices in Winchester and Gainesville and opened a corporate headquarters and service center in Manassas, according to the company’s Web site.

Singer is charged with two counts of aggravated sexual battery, one count of forcible battery, and with taking indecent liberties with minor.

Singer was released from the Prince William-Manassas Regional Jail on bond last Thursday.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.