A top Philadelphia police officer faces charges of multiple sexual offenses relating to alleged assaults against three junior three female officers.
Chief Inspector Carl Holmes, 54, was arrested Thursday morning after an investigating grand jury recommended criminal charges, authorities said.
Holmes, who has been with the city’s police department since 1990, allegedly used his position at the city’s police-training academy and his rank as a senior officer to present himself “as a safe resource or mentor” to young female police officers, according to a statement by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.
The alleged misconduct goes back to 2004, according to NBC Philadelphia.
But, Holmes’ high rank “insulated him from any meaningful investigation” when the women initially made allegations, the prosecutor’s office statement said.
When each of the three female officers claimed that he had engaged in sexual assault or sexual harassment against them, they were subjected to investigations by the police department’s internal affairs division, the statement said.
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“The grand jury alleges that PPD culture discourages reporting a fellow officer, especially a boss,” the statement said, using the acronym for the Philadelphia Police Department.
In two instances, junior female officers allege that Holmes came on to them and “against their will and without their consent kissed them, fondled their breasts, and digitally penetrated their vaginas,” said the prosecutor’s statement on the grand jury’s findings.
In the case of the third female officer, she was encouraged by Holmes to join his elite task force. Three days after joining the unit, the grand jury alleges that “against her will and without her consent she was also kissed, groped, and digitally penetrated by Holmes,” the statement said.
Holmes was charged with three counts each of aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault without consent, and forcible compulsion, according to court records. He was also charged with criminal attempt of sexual assault and criminal attempt at forcible compulsion.
The district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request from NBC News for more information.
Court records show that Holmes posted bail Friday, but it is unclear if he has retained an attorney.
NBC News called a phone number listed for Holmes but there was no answer.
The Philadelphia Police Department has suspended him for 30 days with intent to dismiss, a press release said.
Holmes’ arrest comes after other recent scandals involving the Philadelphia police department in recent months. Former Commissioner Richard Ross Jr. abruptly resigned in August amid weeks of negative headlines for his department.
At least 72 officers were placed on leave this year for making racist or homophobic Facebook comments that were revealed in an online database called the Plain View Project in June. A total of 15 officers were suspended for 30 days with intent to dismiss; 11 of them voluntarily separated from the city prior to expiration of their suspension periods, a city official told NBC News in September.
In another black mark for the department, 10 Philadelphia police recruits resigned in June after they tried to cheat on an open-book exam.
An internal investigation was launched and before it concluded, the 10 recruits resigned. The test was one of many administered during the training period at the Police Academy in northeast Philadelphia.
Janelle Griffith contributed.