Former Valley Center cop pleads guilty to sex crimes, misconduct
A former Valley Center police sergeant accused of sex crimes and misconduct over his contact with teenaged girls has pleaded guilty to five charges.
Thomas Delgado, 50, changed his plea from not guilty to guilty on Friday morning before Sedgwick County District Judge David Dahl. The crimes he admitted to: sexual exploitation of a child, sexual battery, official misconduct, attempted sexual battery and harassment by telecommunications device.
He is scheduled for sentencing June 29.
Delgado's convictions are for crimes committed after he was hired by the Valley Center Police Department in April 2014. He pleaded guilty to:
- possessing a sexually explicit image or depiction of a child on June 13, 2016
- unwanted fondling of a victim between April 1 and Dec. 12, 2016
- misusing confidential information he obtained through his work as a police officer between Feb. 1 and June 30, 2015
- putting his hand on a seat under another victim and talking about touching her buttocks between Dec. 1, 2015 and Dec. 12, 2016
- using a phone to send lewd messages to a victim between Dec. 1, 2015 and Dec. 12, 2016
In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed two misdemeanor counts of harassment by phone. When he's sentenced in June, attorneys plan to ask Dahl to send Delgado to prison for just under three years.
Dahl does not have to follow the lawyers' recommendations in Delgado's plea agreement and can order him to serve more or less time.
One of Delgado's convictions — sexual exploitation of a child — is a felony, which carries prison time. The rest are misdemeanors, which carry sentences of six to 12 months in jail.
The day of his arrest in late 2016 on the sex-related charges, Delgado resigned from the Valley Center Police Department. He had worked for the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office before taking the Valley Center job. There were also allegations of inappropriate conduct with a teen girl lodged against Delgado when he was a Sedgwick County deputy.
A police affidavit used to justify Delgado's charges said suspicions by his wife over him frequently texting and calling teenage girls, ages 14 to 17, led to the case. The wife told a detective she thought Delgado got the girls' information from responding to 911 calls involving them.
Delgado’s cellphone records showed that he sent more than 6,500 texts to one girl; more than 1,200 to a second girl; five texts to a third; and 356 texts to a fourth, the affidavit says. There also were hundreds of phone calls.
Some of Thomas Delgado's alleged crimes also have led to an ongoing lawsuit against the city of Valley Center.
On Friday in court Delgado looked remarkably different than he did at the time of his arrest. He looked thinner, had a graying beard and mustache instead of being clean-shaven and had longer hair. He wore a bright orange jail jumpsuit, handcuffs and ankle shackles and responded to the judge's questions quickly and quietly.
"Do you know of any reason I should not accept your plea today," Dahl asked him during the hearing.
"No, sir," Delgado replied.
A short time later, Dahl asked: "Are you pleading guilty to all of these charges because you are guilty?"
Delgado paused for a several moments.
Eventually he said, "Yes, sir," in a low voice.
After Delgado entered the guilty plea, defense attorney Patrick Mitchell asked the judge to modify his bond so he could possibly be free prior to the June 29 sentencing date.
Sedgwick County Assistant District Attorney Justin Edwards argued that Delgado is a flight risk and that, if anything, his bond should be revoked since he's now convicted of five crimes.
Dahl denied Mitchell's request.
Delgado remains in the Sedgwick County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bond.
This story was originally published May 25, 2018 at 12:17 PM with the headline "Former Valley Center cop pleads guilty to sex crimes, misconduct."