Ex-Philly cop pleads guilty to sexually assaulting dozens of young women, sentenced to 15 to 40 years
Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office
Former Philadelphia Police Officer Patrick Heron plead guilty to sexually assaulting dozens of young women.
By MURI ASSUNÇÃO | massuncao@nydailynews.com | New York Daily News
October 21, 2023 at 5:29 p.m.
A former Philadelphia police officer pleaded guilty on Friday to dozens of sex crimes involving young women and was sentenced to 15 to 40 years in state prison.
Patrick Heron, 54, reached an agreement with prosecutors ahead of a trial on more than 200 criminal offenses — including child sex assault and kidnapping — which occurred from 2005 to 2022.
The disgraced cop retired from the Philadelphia Police Department in 2019 after working there from 1995 to 2008 and then from 2010 to 2019. He was initially arrested in September 2022 for offenses related to unlawful sexual contact with young girls, photography depicting sex acts with young girls, and retaliation and harassment against victims and witnesses.
In June 2023, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office said Heron had been “re-arrested on 233 new counts,” including kidnapping, sexual assault, child sexual abuse and institutional sexual assault.
Investigators said he targeted vulnerable victims — including girls who struggled with drug addiction, had run away from home or had been arrested — and often sexually assaulted them while wearing his uniform and in the back of his patrol vehicle.
Friday’s surprising guilty plea came after prosecutors said he could get up to 1,300 years behind bars if found guilty on the more than 200 counts he faced, CBS News Philadelphia reported.
Jane Roh, spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office, welcomed the guilty plea, saying victims will now be spared the trauma of a trial.
Heron’s attorney, Anthony List, echoed that sentiment, saying the plea would benefit victims who would no longer have to sit through traumatic testimonies.
“Hopefully everyone can move on,” List said, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Investigators have been able to identify 48 victims so far. However, that number could be higher as some women might not have come forward.
“The implications of what appears to be serial misconduct are nearly too horrifying to contemplate,” Lyandra Retacco, chief of the prosecutors’ special investigations unit, said in June when announcing Heron was facing 233 criminal charges.
Heron didn’t address the court on Friday. He’ll be required to register under Megan’s Law,” according to CBS News.
Ex-Philly cop pleads guilty to sexually assaulting dozens of young women, sentenced to 15 to 40 years
Patrick Heron, who was accused of sexually assaulting dozens of women and girls, often while wearing his uniform and in the back of his patrol vehicle, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 to 40 …
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