A judge sentenced a former Kansas police officer to more than 23 years in prison on Monday for a string of sex crimes, in which he assaulted 10 women over the course of years.
Todd W. Allen pleaded guilty to 12 felony sex crime charges and five breach of privacy charges in Reno County District Court in April. Allen was employed at the Hutchinson Police Department for more than 25 years but would target women who were in their cars at parks or in parking lots in his off hours, according to the court filings.
Allen was sentenced to 282 months, 23 and a half years, according to NBC affiliate KSN. He will have to register as a sex offender and be placed on parole following his release.
Victims were allowed to address the court during his sentencing, KSN reported. Some said they are fearful to go out at night following the assaults by Allen.
“It’s hard to even feel safe in a room full of officers, to be honest, because Todd Allen has ruined that safety for me and for the others he has harmed,” she said.
Allen would approach these women posing as police or park security officer in at least 10 incidents from 2012 to 2018, knocking on or shining a flashlight through their window. He would ask questions about whether they were using drugs and demand that the women get out of the cars and follow him to the rear of the vehicles or to nearby areas, court documents said.
Under the pretense of pat downs to search for contraband, Allen touched the women inappropriately without their consent, victims said. If their significant others or friends were in the car, they were ordered to remain in the car as the assaults took place.
The sex crime charges are: two counts of rape, two counts of attempted rape, one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, three counts of aggravated sexual battery, two counts of attempted aggravated sexual battery and two counts of kidnapping.
Aug. 19, 202203:03
It was the breach of privacy crimes, ranging from 2019 to 2022, that eventually got Allen caught, according to the court documents.
Police responded to a call in June 2022 when a Hutchinson resident said his cameras had caught a man wearing gloves looking over his fence toward where a party of mostly females was taking place on the other side.
Allen was stopped by officers on his bike nearby, fitting the description of the man given by the resident, according to the court documents.
In a voluntary interview with police weeks later, Allen admitted to being the prowler in the June case as well as admitting that he “could have been” the suspect in multiple other breach of privacy cases, court documents said.
Reno County District Attorney Thomas R. Stanton wrote in a court filing that Allen would search and view the incidents he later pleaded guilty to in the police department’s record database multiple times, even though he was not assigned to investigate any of the cases.
Allen admitted to his crimes, Stanton’s filing said, and could only say that he was “sexually motivated” in the incidents.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
