Ex-Philadelphia officer Patrick Heron pleads guilty to sex crimes
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- In what was a last-minute offer by prosecutors, ex-Philadelphia Police Officer Patrick Heron has pleaded guilty to a number of sex crimes and was sentenced immediately late Friday.
The former cop was about to reject the deal paving the way for trial when prosecutors said the amount of time he faced with all 200 charges was 1,300 years.
After consulting with his lawyer, Heron accepted a deal of between 15 and 40 years behind bars for counts of unlawful contact, sexual abuse of children, and forgery. Both the judge and prosecutors said they were reluctant to offer the deal but concluded it was in the best interest of the many victims in the case.
It's alleged Heron, while on duty, sexually assaulted dozens of underage women in the Kensington section of the city, between 2005 and 2017. Prosecutors previously showed evidence of Heron taking pictures and videos with his victims while assaulting them, some in the backseat of his patrol unit.
Heron had nothing to say to the court. He'll be required to register under Meghan's Law.