D.A.: Chester officer assaulted women at police station
He implored women to expose themselves, authorities said, and indicated to one that he wanted to have sex. He once asked for revealing pictures, according to the allegations, and touched another woman's thigh while pulling at her pants.
He implored women to expose themselves, authorities said, and indicated to one that he wanted to have sex.
He once asked for revealing pictures, according to the allegations, and touched another woman's thigh while pulling at her pants.
And he did it all while on duty as a Chester police officer.
Roosevelt Turner, 37, who served on the Chester force for more than six years, was charged Thursday with official oppression, indecent exposure, and indecent assault. Investigators said the incidents occurred while the women were detained at police headquarters.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan, who announced the charges at a news conference, said Turner was suspended after he was arrested on the job Thursday and taken into custody. He was released after posting $25,000 bail.
According to investigators, Turner was charged after three women separately described the incidents, which occurred between April and August 2015 while he worked as a guard of the holding cell. Normally, Whelan said, Turner worked as a patrol officer.
The District Attorney's Office began an investigation in August. Turner was not suspended from his patrolman's job while authorities worked to corroborate the three women's stories.
Asked why, Police Commissioner Darren Alston said he knew of only one allegation before Thursday. And, he said, "they were allegations at the time."
Whelan said no administrative action was taken against Turner because investigators had to verify that the stories were plausible.
We "are dealing with people who may have motivation to not be truthful because of the circumstances," Whelan said, saying all three women were under arrest during the times of the alleged instances.
Whelan said investigators found them to be credible and suspect that they might not be the only ones.
"We are very concerned because this is typically not isolated and unique behavior when it occurs," Whelan said. "If he had the opportunity to do [the same] to other women, he might have taken advantage of that opportunity." He asked other women who may have been coerced by Turner to come forward.
Turner's attorney, Nusrat J. Rashid, declined comment Thursday.
Whelan acknowledged Thursday that it was unclear how Turner came to be alone with the women while working as a turnkey. Typically, police protocol calls for at least two officers to be working the holding cell at any time, Alston said.
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