Police allege that karate-coach cop sexually abused girl, from age 12, for 8 years

By DAVID GAMBACORTA

Philadelphia Daily News

 

gambacd@phillynews.com 215-854-5994

 

THEY SAT there together, the 12-year-old girl and the 38-year-old man, alone in a van in sprawling Fairmount Park. He made the first move, exposing himself to her, asking her to touch him and then to perform oral sex on him, she later told police. When she recoiled, clearly overwhelmed, he took her home. A week later, they returned to the park. This time, there were no polite requests, she said. The man in the van, a Philadelphia police officer named Tyrone Wiggins, ordered the girl to remove her pants, then raped her while she cried, the police allege in court documents viewed by the Daily News.

 

After allegedly destroying her youth, her innocence and her trust in a person who was the embodiment of authority, Wiggins – a Marine, a cop and a popular youth karate instructor – took her home that day in 1997. But that nightmarish encounter was not their last, according to police. The alleged horrendous scenes in the park were the springboard to many more acts of physical, sexual and psychological abuse that Wiggins inflicted on the young girl over the course of eight torturous years, the court documents allege.

 

Police officials first heard of Wiggins’ alleged predatory behavior in 2007. They finally arrested him Nov. 19, 2009, the day after he retired from the force. Despite the abhorrent nature of his alleged crimes, the Police Department never publicly announced Wiggins’ arrest on charges that included rape-forcible compulsion, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and statutory sexual assault.

 

The department’s brass didn’t even bother to inform the city’s Recreation Department of Wiggins’ arrest, even though Internal Affairs investigators learned that Wiggins had met his victim at the Olney Recreation Center, where, as recently as last week, he was still giving free karate lessons. Department of Recreation Commissioner Sue Slawson said she was unaware of Wiggins’ case until a Daily News reporter informed her yesterday. “I’m glad you made this call,” Slawson said. “As soon as you and I are finished talking, I’m going to make sure he won’t be running any more programs.”

 

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey last night described the failure to disclose Wiggins’ arrest as “an oversight, not an attempt to conceal something.” He said that he was aware of the case, but not that Wiggins regularly volunteered at the Olney Recreation Center, at A Street and Champlost Avenue. “If I had known all of that, I would have called the Department of Rec directly,” Ramsey said. “A press release should have been put out, and it wasn’t. I’ll take the responsibility, and I apologize for that.”

 

He met the girl whom he is accused of later victimizing in 1995 at the Olney Recreation Center, where he was teaching karate to youngsters. She was 10. He spent the next two years befriending her and her family, gaining their trust and, quietly, laying a trap, court documents allege. After the first two alleged assaults in the van in 1997, Wiggins began routinely taking his young victim out for car rides, court documents indicate.

 

Some ended back in Fairmount Park, others at his house on Chew Avenue near Front Street in Olney. But all of the trips resulted in further sexual abuse that worsened with time, according to court documents. When the girl was 14, the documents allege, Wiggins forced her to perform oral sex on him. Two years later, he began anally raping her, according to the documents. By the time she was 20, Wiggins had turned violent and was punching and slapping her, the documents allege.

 

Eventually, the young woman broke down and confided in a friend. On Aug. 7, 2007, she finally spilled the details to Internal Affairs investigators. Some time after the investigation started, the victim decided to join the Philadelphia Police Department, police sources said. Wiggins volunteered to vouch for his victim’s credibility when officials conducted a routine background check on her, the sources said. It was unclear if the young woman knew of his involvement.

 

Last month, Internal Affairs investigators finally moved in on Wiggins, who was now working in the Civil Affairs Unit. On the day of his arrest, he reacted calmly when he was told to report to Internal Affairs’ Northeast Philadelphia headquarters, sources said. Wiggins continued working at the Olney Recreation Center, but Slawson said he taught a group of “three or four adults. No children.”

 

When no mention was made publicly after Wiggins’ arrest, it aroused suspicion within the Police Department, according to a law-enforcement official who declined to be named. Whispers of a cover-up abounded, especially when police officials announced on Dec. 9 that a Crime Scene Unit cop, Adrian Makuch, had been arrested for trying to lure teen boys into his car. At a news conference addressing that case, Internal Affairs Chief Inspector Anthony DiLacqua said the arrest of Makuch proved that the Police Department wasn’t afraid of disciplining its own members.

 

“A lot of cops started calling around after that, wondering why there were never any stories in the paper about Wiggins,” the unnamed police official said. “That is a little surprising,” said Kelvyn Anderson, deputy director of the Police Advisory Commission. “It doesn’t make much sense for them not to put something out there, especially with a crime like this – usually once you start pulling on the string, other victims come out.”

 

Walker and several other cops who used to work with Wiggins said they were also unaware of his arrest. “If it’s true,” Walker said, “shame on him. It’s appalling.” Despite the uproar, Ramsey insisted that there was no deliberate attempt to withhold the details of Wiggins’ case. “There was no attempt to hide it,” he said

 

(Are you kidding me!!!!) far too many questions here!