NORTH STRABANE TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A former Fallowfield Township police officer is accused of picking up a runaway teen near the Greyhound bus station in downtown Pittsburgh and having sex with the boy, according to court documents.
Channel 4 Action News' Sheldon Ingram reported that police said Robert Helphenstine, the former officer-in-charge of the department, met the 17-year-old Virginia boy on Liberty Avenue while his trip to California was on a layover.
The criminal complaint alleges that Helphenstine brought the teen to his house and had sex with him and let him stay there, but while Helphenstine was at work, the boy called his family.
Helphenstine is facing charges which include endangering the welfare of a child and official oppression. He was arraigned before District Judge Jay Weller in North Strabane and released on Monday.
Helphenstine did not comment as he left the courtroom.
He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Nov. 20.
Township supervisor Donnie Henderson said he never wanted to give the officer-in-charge job to Helphenstine, who already had two DUIs in 1993 and was still employed by the state police as a dispatcher.
Henderson said he voted against Helphenstine, but the other township supervisors voted for him.
"This particular case today is one we could have avoided, and I made a proposal to avoid it, but the other two didn't see it that way. They made a critical error," Henderson said.
The supervisors who voted to hire Helphenstine declined to be interviewed by Channel 4 Action News.
Prior to Helphenstine's promotion in November 2008, the township's police department was without an officer-in-charge from the time former Capt. Allen Pettit resigned in 2006.
Pettit was accused of using a township credit card to buy gasoline for himself. He was also accused of stealing drugs from evidence in a case he prosecuted.
Fallowfield's police department has one full-time officer and four part-time officers.
"We have one very good full-time officer, and I hope in the future, I hope the people who just got elected make sure you hire qualified people," Henderson said.
Previous Stories:
Copyright 2009 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
