Lawsuit accuses cops of cover-up in molestation case
May 2 , 2007
Adapted from the Express-Times
A police chief covered up the fact that one of his officers molested a teenager, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.
The suit says the police frequently showed up at the victim's house to intimidate, threaten and harass the victim and her mother after she asked the chief to investigate an officer.
The officer was sentenced to 10 to 36 months in state prison for molesting the victim, who is 16 now but was 14 at the time of the abuse.
The suit says the chief accepted the officer's denial of the crime despite repeated pleas by the mother for an investigation. Police followed the mother, pulled her over and parked outside her house for no reason, the suit says.
After state police and the county district attorney launched an investigation, they found the officer's semen in the victim's underwear, the suit says. The suit says the officer denied having sex with the child by falsely claiming he had sex with her mother and suggesting the daughter and mother must share underwear.
The officer eventually pleaded guilty to statutory sexual assault.
The suit says the officer defamed the victim's mother by claiming he had sex with her. The officer said the victim forced him to have sex with her by threatening to tell his wife he was having an extramarital affair with the victim's mother.
The suit says the victim suffers from physical pain and emotional trauma. She was forced to drop out of school and study with a private tutor after she was molested, the suit says.
The officer pleaded no contest to charges he lied about his certification when he was hired as a police officer in 2002. He resigned as a police officer a couple months ago and has yet to be sentenced on a charge of unsworn falsification.
He previously worked as a special police officer -- with no arrest powers -- in another county.
The suit says the police academy; the municipal police officers' education and training commission; and the commission's administrative officer all failed to prevent the officer from being hired as a police officer even though he was not certified. |
