Ex-Valley Center cop charged with sex crimes, misconduct

A former Valley Center police sergeant, Thomas Delgado, has been charged with sex crimes, official misconduct and harassment, a court document says.

Delgado, 49, was charged Friday in Sedgwick County District Court.

The seven charges he faces: sexual exploitation of a child, sexual battery, attempted sexual battery, official misconduct and three counts of harassment by telecommunications device, a court document says. The charges list four different victims, by their initials.

The alleged crimes occurred from February 2015 to December 2016, the charges say. All of the charges involve alleged crimes that occurred after Valley Center hired Delgado in April 2014. Before he worked on patrol in Valley Center, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office had moved him from his patrol beat in southeast Sedgwick County to a job in the offender registration unit.

The harassment charges against Delgado involve text messages, Dan Dillon, spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office, said in an e-mail Friday afternoon. The text messages were lewd or obscene, the charges say.

One of the counts, sexual exploitation of a child, is a felony. The rest are misdemeanors.

The felony charge of sexual exploitation of a child says that around June 13, 2016, Delgado had a “visual depiction” in which a child under 18 “is shown or heard engaging in sexually explicit conduct with intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desires or appeal to the prurient interest of the defendant or any other person.”

The sexual battery charge accuses him of unlawfully touching a person 16 or older to “arouse or satisfy the sexual desires” of Delgado or someone else. That crime occurred between April 1, 2016, and Dec. 12, 2016, the charge says.

The attempted sexual battery charge says that between Dec. 1, 2015, and Dec. 12, 2016, Delgado “placed his hand in seat under (victim) and talked about her butt, toward the perpetration of a crime” – sexual battery.

The official misconduct charge claims that between Feb. 1, 2015, and June 30, 2015, he used his public position to “use confidential information … for the private benefit or gain of the officer … or another or to intentionally cause harm to another.”

A protective order filed with his case says he is not to have contact with five witnesses.

Delgado, who had been released after his arrest in December, made a first appearance in Sedgwick County District Court on the charges Friday morning. The day of his arrest, he resigned as a Valley Center police sergeant.

His bond was set at $75,000.

Delgado remains out of custody on the bond he posted previously, Dillon said. He is due in court for a preliminary hearing on June 7.

This story was originally published May 26, 2017 at 3:23 PM with the headline "Ex-Valley Center cop charged with sex crimes, misconduct."