Trial to start for former Philly homicide detective accused of sexually abusing witnesses

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Philip Nordo has denied wrongdoing. His supporters have cast the case as a politically motivated attempt by District Attorney Larry Krasner to make good on a campaign promise to prosecute police.

By Chris Palmer, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Porn was playing on a laptop, the man would later tell police. Nordo offered him a drink, told him to get comfortable, and excused himself to take a shower. Nordo has denied wrongdoing. His supporters have cast the case as a politically motivated attempt by District Attorney Larry Krasner to make good on a campaign promise to prosecute police.

Nordo’s prosecution has already had ripple effects: Judges have agreed to overturn at least six murder convictions in cases Nordo worked on, and the DA’s Office said last year it was still reviewing an additional 34 convictions linked to him. Nordo joined the Police Department in 1997 after serving for several years as a SEPTA police officer. By the time he joined the force, Nordo, a third-generation cop, had a wife, two children, and a house in the Northeast.

After first asking about potential suspects, Nordo placed his gun on the dashboard, began to masturbate, then forcibly performed oral sex on the teen, who later told a grand jury he was frightened by the presence of the gun. “I think what happened is they weren’t able to prove that Nordo had anything to do with it,” Ross, the police commissioner, later said. “It was one word against the other.”

He told the man about a “porn club” and said he would make a good porn star, according to prosecutors. That man, by then imprisoned on a lengthy sentence for a crime that court documents do not specify, was directed to Nordo after telling prosecutors he had information about the murder of his best friend. He was brought to Police Headquarters for an interview, and court documents say Nordo gave him food and alcohol and drove him in a van to North Philadelphia.

Last year, the DA’s Office moved to overturn the conviction Nordo helped secure in Massey’s murder, in part because they now believe Nordo used the case to pursue sexual relationships with that witness and one other tied to the case. And prosecutors have declined to retry the defendant, Arkel Garcia, saying Nordo’s misconduct tainted the evidence beyond repair.

 

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