A police officer took a teen for a rape kit. Then he assaulted her, too.

[essentialsaltes]

Hundreds of law enforcement officers have been accused of sexually abusing children over the past two decades, a Post investigation found​

The 14-year-old did not want to go to the emergency room. Her mother had begged her. Her therapist had gently prodded. And now there was a police officer in her living room.

“You really should think about it,” he said.

He introduced himself as Officer Rodney Vicknair. His New Orleans Police Department cruiser was waiting outside, ready to take her to the hospital for a rape kit. Early that morning, the girl said, a 17-year-old friend had forced himself on her.

Under the police department’s rules, a case like this was supposed to be handled from the start by a detective trained in sex crimes or child abuse. But on this afternoon in May of 2020, it was Vicknair, a patrol officer with a troubled past, who knocked on the girl’s door.

Four months later, police would arrest a man for sexually assaulting the girl. But it wouldn’t be her teenage friend. It would be Officer Rodney Vicknair.

The day the 14-year-old met 53-year-old Vicknair was the day the officer began a months-long grooming process, prosecutors would allege.

NOPD photo of Vicknair

Americans have been forced to reckon with sexual misconduct committed by teachers, clergy, coaches and others with access to and authority over children.

At least 1,800 state and local police officers were charged with crimes involving child sexual abuse from 2005 through 2022, The Post found.

Abusive officers were rarely related to the children they were accused of raping, fondling and exploiting. They most frequently targeted girls who were 13 to 15 years old — and regularly met their victims through their jobs.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Trial over teen’s sexual abuse by police officer delayed after Post investigation​

A federal judge in New Orleans postponed a trial in a civil case against the city following The Post’s revelations Thursday​

Hours after The Washington Post published an investigation into a New Orleans police officer who sexually abused a teen he met responding to a rape report, a judge delayed the trial for her civil case against the city.

The victim’s lawyers, in a motion filed Thursday, accused the city of withholding “highly relevant text messages.” The texts show the head of the New Orleans Police Department was notified of “potential sexual abuse of a minor by an officer” days before that officer sexually assaulted her in 2020, when she was 15.

The existence of the text messages, which The Post first reported Thursday, contradicts the city’s previous claims in federal court that there is no evidence that any NOPD policymaker had notice of any inappropriate behavior by Officer Rodney Vicknair, according to the victim’s motion.

In court filings Thursday, attorneys for New Orleans described the text message in September 2020 from then-independent police monitor Susan Hutson to then-superintendent Shaun Ferguson as “irrelevant” and denied improperly withholding materials or making any misrepresentations to the court.

 

[essentialsaltes]

A teen sexually abused by a cop sued New Orleans. Now the trial begins.​

A jury will decide if the city is responsible for the sexual assault of a 15-year-old by one of its police officers. He first met the girl when he took her for a rape exam.

The case comes at a time when New Orleans officials are working to end a consent decree with the Justice Department that has kept its police department under federal monitoring for more than a decade. Now, a jury will further scrutinize the department’s selection and supervision of its officers.

The trial, which is expected to last four days, will center on a former New Orleans Police Department patrol officer named Rodney Vicknair, who died in prison earlier this year after being diagnosed with brain cancer. Vicknair served less than six months of a 14-year sentence after pleading guilty to violating the teenager’s rights under the color of law.

Citing The Post’s investigation [previous posts], Judge Carl J. Barbier reversed his previous dismissal of Nicole’s claim that the department had failed to properly supervise Vicknair. [then-police superintendent] Ferguson, who admitted in a deposition that he did not recall taking any action after being alerted to a potential child sex crime, is expected to testify this week.

Jurors will also hear testimony about Vicknair’s background. Records show he was hired despite an arrest for aggravated assault charges and a conviction for battery on a juvenile — a conviction that three of his family members told The Post was the result of a previous sexual relationship with a minor.

[The victim] has said she hoped her lawsuit would force New Orleans to reexamine how its officers are allowed to interact with vulnerable kids.

In a deposition earlier this year, an NOPD sergeant testified that the department has not changed any policies or training methods to prevent “another Officer Vicknair.”

 

[RileyG]

So sad. Ugh

 

[wing2000]

Americans have been forced to reckon with sexual misconduct committed by teachers, clergy, coaches and others with access to and authority over children.

At least 1,800 state and local police officers were charged with crimes involving child sexual abuse from 2005 through 2022, The Post found.

Horrible.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Hundreds of law enforcement officers have been accused of sexually abusing children over the past two decades, a Post investigation found​

The 14-year-old did not want to go to the emergency room. Her mother had begged her. Her therapist had gently prodded. And now there was a police officer in her living room.

“You really should think about it,” he said.

He introduced himself as Officer Rodney Vicknair. His New Orleans Police Department cruiser was waiting outside, ready to take her to the hospital for a rape kit. Early that morning, the girl said, a 17-year-old friend had forced himself on her.

Under the police department’s rules, a case like this was supposed to be handled from the start by a detective trained in sex crimes or child abuse. But on this afternoon in May of 2020, it was Vicknair, a patrol officer with a troubled past, who knocked on the girl’s door.

Four months later, police would arrest a man for sexually assaulting the girl. But it wouldn’t be her teenage friend. It would be Officer Rodney Vicknair.

The day the 14-year-old met 53-year-old Vicknair was the day the officer began a months-long grooming process, prosecutors would allege.

NOPD photo of Vicknair
View attachment 344072

Americans have been forced to reckon with sexual misconduct committed by teachers, clergy, coaches and others with access to and authority over children.

At least 1,800 state and local police officers were charged with crimes involving child sexual abuse from 2005 through 2022, The Post found.

Abusive officers were rarely related to the children they were accused of raping, fondling and exploiting. They most frequently targeted girls who were 13 to 15 years old — and regularly met their victims through their jobs.

This is terrible....but a lower rate than I expected. Teachers and school staff are somewhere around 300 cases a year....so they would have about 5100 in the same time period.

We should have cameras in classrooms.

 

[rjs330]

Yeah this is aweful. This guy should lose his pension and be locked up forever. If any administration knew he was a problem they should be fired and if the union protected him they should be sued for millions.

 

[wing2000]

What does it say about our culture that those who are in positions of authority (police, teachers, clergy, coaches) betray the trust of our children?

 

[essentialsaltes]

NOPD planned to arrest officer hours before he sexually assaulted teen, official says​

The New Orleans independent police monitor testified Tuesday that she was told that a warrant for Officer Rodney Vicknair had been issued and expected his arrest.

Stella Cziment took the stand in a federal civil rights trial over the extent of the city’s responsibility for the teen’s assault by Officer Rodney Vicknair in September 2020. Cziment testified that she had a conversation on the morning of the assault in which she was told the department already had a warrant for Vicknair.

“I thought they were going to arrest him,” said Cziment, who served as the deputy police monitor at the time.

Five days earlier, Cziment’s boss had sent a text to Shaun Ferguson, then NOPD’s top official, alerting him to “potential sexual abuse of a minor by an officer.” That text, which the city did not disclose during discovery, was uncovered by a Washington Post investigation earlier this year.

Susan Hutson, who sent the text to Ferguson, testified Tuesday that she took the rare step of directly contacting the superintendent because she felt there was urgent danger to a child.

...city attorney Corbin St. Raymond argued that the department had no way of predicting that Vicknair was going to commit a crime.

“The NOPD does not possess a crystal ball,” St. Raymond said.

 

[Tropical Wilds]

What’s wild to me is, where we are, we send a same-gendered officer to talk to victims. They are accompanied by another officer and a crisis nurse from the local hospital. They try to interview them at home, and if they can’t be at home, they take them to the hospital. No one person is left alone with the victim, not even parents or friends. And mine is a rural area, without a lot of resources, yet we can still make this happen and have since the early 90s.

How does NOLA not have a similar practice? Like, when these calls come in, they don’t even get dispatched (unless it’s in progress). You direct-call the appropriate people to respond and the process begins. The only time anything hits the airwaves is if there’s a suspect, then they dispatch to BOL (be on lookout) for person fitting x, y, z as they’re being sought for questioning. We aren’t idiots, we know what they’re likely being sought for, but the name, age, gender, and location of the victim aren’t known by anybody but the dispatcher, two officers, and a counselor. So for a breakdown like this to happen locally, it would almost have to be intentional.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

I'm not surprised at all. Never trust people is my motto. Men , that have authority , should not be alone with females. They can't be trusted. And neither can female , that have authority over people. Yes, people, that want to abuse children, teenager's. Find people, with access to victims. They also look for jobs, so, they can have access to their victims.

 

[essentialsaltes]

New Orleans ordered to pay $1 million to teen sexually assaulted by officer​

A federal jury found the city responsible for what a police officer did to a 15-year-old in 2020.

Following the verdict, Cziment, the city’s police monitor, said in a statement: “This case demonstrates the danger of failing to recognize and respond to red flags warning of potential sexual misconduct within a police department. When leadership stated that grooming is not illegal, it signaled a leadership and culture failure on the part of the NOPD.”

[There have since been leadership changes and efforts at reform.]