Phila. police officer charged with rape, other crimes

December 22, 2009 (WPVI) -- Officer Tyrone Wiggins is charged with rape, statutory rape and other related charges. He's accused of horrific sexual crimes against a child that continued into adulthood.

Officer Wiggins befriended the victim when she was just 12-years-old.

They met at the Olney Recreation Center where he taught Karate. After gaining her trust, Wiggins allegedly began sexually abusing her.

The horrendous acts continued for 8 years until the victim mustered the strength to go to police in 2007.

Wiggins was arrested in November.

"To see she was not protected, protection was not given to her especially by a person that she expected to be protected by that really turned my stomach," said Councilwoman Marian Tasco.

The rec center is part of Councilwoman Tasco's 9th district.

On Tuesday she wrote a letter to Commissioner Charles Ramsey, demanding answers. She wants to know why Wiggins arrest was never made public and more importantly, why investigators never notified the rec center about the allegations.

Published reports say Wiggins was teaching there as recently as last week.

"He should have been pulled immediately from that program because you have this incident. We don't know what other incidents there could be or could be in the future."

Commissioner Ramsey called it an oversight in not announcing the arrest. And a department spokesperson says a full investigation is underway to determine why the recreation department was never notified about the allegations.

Tasco hopes the Commissioner will go one step further.

"And look to see what process he can put in place to prevent this from happening again."

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philadelphia, pennsylvania, delaware, new jersey, abuse, assault, police, sex, sex assault, rape, crime, chad pradelli

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