A retired Philadelphia police officer facing more than 1,300 years in prison on over 200 criminal charges of sexual abuse of children and woman entered a guilty plea to lesser charges on Friday and was sentenced to 15 to 40 years of incarceration instead.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office said in a press release that 54-year-old Patrick Heron pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful contact with a minor, two counts of sexual abuse of children, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, official oppression, kidnapping of a minor, indecent assault, forgery and stalking for five criminal cases brought against him by the DA’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU).
Commonwealth prosecutors were ready to go to trial on allegations from over more than a decade, accusing Heron of abusing and assaulting dozens of women and girls, taking photos and videos of victims being assaulted without their consent, and attempting to silence witnesses through intimidation to shield his crimes from fellow law enforcement officials.
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Patrick Heron booking photo (Philadelphia Police Department)
The DA’s office, including detectives and the SIU investigated involving the seizure of digital images and videos from accounts connected to Heron.
Some of the images and videos showed Heron engaging in abusive conduct with women and girls on the back of his patrol vehicle, the DA’s office said, while he was in uniform, armed with his department-issued firearm, and on duty.
The DA’s office added that one of the videos shown to the Court of Common Pleas during a procedural hearing in September showed Heron encouraging a woman while she shot up drugs in the back of the patrol vehicle, before he sexually assaulted her.
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Unidentified person walks by Philadelphia Police Ford Explorer. Philadelphia Police Department is the oldest city police agency in the US (formed 1751). (iStock)
Heron was in custody on child sex assault charges in June before dozens more sex crimes were brought against him, stemming from 2005 to 2019.
Once the charges were brought against him, a judge ordered him held without bail and his $2 million bail was revoked.
The DA’s office said if Heron were convicted of the 218 criminal charges filed by the Commonwealth at trial, he would have faced more than 1,300 years in prison.
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Inside a courtroom with gavel in view. (iStock)
Instead, he entered a guilty plea on charges representing each of the joined criminal cases against him, the DA’s office said, and was sentenced by Judge Giovanni Campbell to 15 to 40 years of incarceration.
Special Investigations Unit Supervisor Lyandra Retacco said her department was “comfortable with this conviction,” which avoids a jury trial and churns of trauma of victims and witnesses.
Retacco also said survivors who were prepared to testify against Heron expressed relief that he is being held accountable and can no longer hurt another woman or girl.
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“The predatory sexual assaults committed by former Police Officer Patrick Heron – and his criminal efforts to cover up his many crimes – are an egregious abuse of his position of trust,” Krassner said. “The survivors – including Jane Does not yet identified – deserve to know how this officer’s crimes went unreported and unchecked within law enforcement for so long. And they deserve all of our support in addressing the trauma they have suffered.
“The systemic failures within law enforcement that enabled then-Officer Heron to assault and abuse vulnerable women and girls – including child runaways and people living with addiction – for a decade or more must be remedied,” he added.
