Burt Ludin Granted Continuance for Preliminary Hearing

A preliminary hearing for Burt Ludin, of 121 Krewson Terrace, Willow Grove, scheduled for Monday morning has been granted a continuance until December 1 at the the request of the defense.

Ludin,, has been charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, indecent assault, endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors, dissemination of sexual materials to minors and other related charges.

Ludin appeared before Magisterial District Judge Patricia Zaffarano Monday morning, and his attorney, James Funt, of Greenblatt, Pierce, Funt and Flores, requested more time to review the case.

"We need to have more conversations," said Funt, who told Zaffarano that his firm had only recently received details of the case. Funt also said that his wife was due to give birth in the next 10 days, and requested that the preliminary hearing be delayed for 3-5 weeks.

The defense did not argue against the request, and said that a conversation took place before the hearing.

"We had talked about it ahead of time, they just got in the case, and there is obviously a lot to digest at this point," said Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Jordan Friter, lead prosecutor for the case. "At this point he's obviously facing some very serious charges, and we'll prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law."

Funt also requested a reduction of Ludin's bail from $150,000 to $50,000, citing that the charges are "8 to 9 years old" and that his client had only a single misdemeanor charge on his record.

However, Zaffarano ruled in favor of the prosecution, who said that Ludin still presented a danger.

"There are three separate victims that allege the same conduct from 2001 to 2005," said Friter, who also mentioned Ludin's 2008 misdemeanor conviction for furnishing alcohol to a minor. "We have a community safety issue."

Ludin's attorney also said that his client was diabetic and had not been receiving all of the necessary medication while in custody. However, Zaffarano said that this problem could be worked out, and denied the request for bail reduction.

Upper Dublin Patch has a three page affidavit of probable cause that details the allegations against Ludin.