Prison Cell

While incarcerated in a state prison, Harry Thomas Bell sent more than two dozen love notes to a female minor between mid-July 2020 and late-June 2022, telling her again and again, “I love you and miss you so much,” according to a Williamsport police affidavit. In one such letter in early Nov. 2020, Bell, now 41, asked the girl, “How’s the most pretty cheerleader? I got a picture of you in your costume,” the affidavit stated. In another letter to the girl, who was 12 and 14 when she received the notes, Bell wrote “What’s poppin’ baby girl?” and “Love always, your Buttercup,” using the nickname the girl gave him, police said.

“Not long after his last known letter was sent to her on June 21, 2022, Bell was released from prison,” police said. Sometime after he was released from jail, Bell and the girl met, and he allegedly “did some things that made her uncomfortable,” police were told. The teen told police that Bell “kissed her on the lips two or three times, and locked hands with her while he had his arm around her,” it was alleged in an affidavit. Bell told the girl “not to tell anyone that they kissed, saying ‘it’s our little secret,”’ the court document stated. Bell now faces a felony charge of unlawful contact with a minor and a misdemeanor charge of indecent assault. The alleged kissing episode occurred in the city in November 2022, investigators said.

Soon after learning of the incident, the girl’s mother obtained a protection from abuse order against Bell, and listed her daughter as “the protected party,” the affidavit stated. “As part of the protection order, Bell was evicted from the mother’s apartment,” police said. However, officers later “encountered” him in her apartment, and learned that he was staying there, giving him “access to the child,” police said.

Back when Bell was incarcerated, the girl’s mother “was writing letters to him and talking with him on the phone,” the affidavit stated. “In the course of these communications, Bell became acquainted with the daughter and began sending letters that were addressed directly to her,” police said. Following his recent arraignment before District Judge Christian Frey, Bell, of 450 Center St., was committed to the Lycoming County Prison in lieu of $20,000 bail. He waived his preliminary hearing on Tuesday.