Police officer charged in sex assaults on girl, 14
The veteran Phila. policeman stands accused of sexually assaulting the teenager over a yearlong period while off duty. He has been suspended.
A police officer with 13 years on the force was charged yesterday with sexually assaulting a teenage girl over a yearlong period while off duty.
The girl was 14 when the assaults began in the summer of 2005, said Chief Inspector William Colarulo, commander of the Internal Affairs bureau.
The girl reported the assault Nov. 8, 2005, to the Special Victim's Unit, and the officer, Thomas Gitto, was immediately placed on administrative duty at Police Headquarters.
Gitto, 40, surrendered at Internal Affairs yesterday and was charged with statutory sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, corrupting the morals of a minor and endangering the welfare of children.
He also was suspended for 30 days without pay and the department said it planned to fire him.
Colarulo said Gitto, then assigned to a narcotics field unit, raped the girl at least three times, including once in a Police Department trailer.
Gitto knew the girl through someone in her family, the chief said, declining to provide other details to protect the girl's identity.
Besides the rapes, Gitto indecently assaulted the girl on several occasions, Colarulo said.
All the attacks occurred when Gitto was off duty, police said.
Colarulo said the investigation took so long in part because it involved an examination of telephone records and computer files to corroborate the girl's allegations.
Colarulo said it was "unfortunate" that a police officer had been arrested and charged, "but this is behavior we cannot and will not tolerate."