Lawsuit possible against former Valley Center cop accused of sex crimes

An attorney for a teenager who alleges she was a victim of sex crimes committed by a former Valley Center police sergeant said Tuesday that her family is considering filing a lawsuit.

The alleged crimes against the teen – while Thomas Delgado was in uniform – were “continuous, ongoing and recent,” said Wichita attorney Daniel Back. His client is younger than 18, he said.

She and her family are terrified of Delgado, Back said in an interview Tuesday.

Delgado, 49, has yet to be reached for comment.

Delgado, arrested earlier this month in an ongoing sheriff’s investigation of alleged sex crimes, has been released from jail on bond. Delgado resigned the day of his arrest. Mark Hephner, the police chief who hired him, resigned a week ago.

“He (Delgado) was one of the ones who was hired to protect them and the community,” Back said of the teen and her family.

Back is in the early stages of his investigation, he said, so it is too early to say which entities could be sued.

But information so far “confirms that the incidents could and should have been prevented,” Back said.

“He should have not been a patrol officer, and certainly he should have not been in a position to interact with our most vulnerable members of the community, which included the young girls he violated,” he said.

“We know enough about Delgado’s prior history and prior behavior that clearly demonstrates he should have not been a patrol officer” after a 2011 incident or other incidents, Back said.

In late 2011, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office conducted an internal investigation of an hours-long ride that Delgado gave to a 16-year-old girl when he was a patrol deputy. The internal investigation found that Delgado spoke inappropriately about sex to the 16-year-old, Sheriff Jeff Easter has said.

Delgado ended up assigned to the sheriff’s offender registration unit before he was hired as a patrol sergeant by the Valley Center Police Department in April 2014.

Before his hiring, no one from the Valley Center department called the sheriff’s office to seek files on Delgado that included the internal investigation findings, Easter has said.

By the spring or summer of 2016, after Hephner hired Delgado, Hephner was told of the 2011 investigation. Hephner ordered Delgado not to give any more rides or have contact with children, Valley Center City Administrator Scott Hildebrand has said.

In the Tuesday interview, Back said of Delgado: “The 2011 incident should not be brushed off as if it were simply an inconsequential piece of his employment history. The 2011 incident alone warrants the highest level of vetting and investigation prior to placing him in the community.”

On Dec. 8, sheriff’s investigators arrested Delgado on suspicion of official misconduct, rape, sexual battery and sexual exploitation of a child. He remains out on bond and has not been charged while the investigation continues.

His arrest stemmed from a Dec. 2 complaint filed with the sheriff’s office alleging that Delgado might have had inappropriate relations with two Valley Center girls younger than 18, Easter has said.

Last week, two alleged victims received temporary protective orders against Delgado, according to court documents. Delgado forced one of the victims to have oral sex in his patrol car in 2004 and recently made a girl send nude images of herself, according to the documents.

Both victims fear Delgado while the investigation continues, the documents say.

This story was originally published December 21, 2016 at 7:59 AM with the headline "Lawsuit possible against former Valley Center cop accused of sex crimes."