CRISFIELD, Md.- A Crisfield man was arrested Thursday morning and charged as a fugitive following a nine-month investigation into alleged child sex abuse.
The Somerset County Sheriff's Office launched the investigation of 63-year-old Joseph Salvatore Ciociola in July of 2021. A woman, now 30, reported she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted over several years, beginning when she was just 6 years of age. Most of the abuse occurred when the victim and Ciociola lived together in Wayne, Pa., the Sheriff's Office said.
Authorities said that when the victim and Ciociola moved to Crisfield in April 2021, family and police intervened.
The victim reported Ciociola to the Radnor Township Police Department in Wayne, Pa., which led to a joint criminal investigation with the Somerset County Sheriff's Office.
On Thursday morning, April 7, the Somerset County Sheriff's Office and investigators with the Radnor Township Police Department responded to Ciociola's home in Crisfield where he was served with a Pennsylvania arrest warrant charging him with more than 120 counts of crimes including assault, sex assault, child abuse, and rape. Ciociola was placed under arrest for the following crimes in Maryland:
- Violation of a protective order (obtained by this victim)
- Possession of a firearm in violation of a protective order
- Second-degree assault
- Third-degree sex offense
- Fourth-degree sex offense
- Perverted practice
The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office also executed a search and seizure warrant on Ciociola's home in Crisfield, where numerous computers and related electronic devices suspected of containing electronic evidence were seized.
Ciocola was ordered held without bond in the Somerset County Detention Center for the Maryland charges and the fugitive warrant.