A former Kansas police officer has pleaded guilty to a series of sex crimes in which he sexually assaulted 10 women while posing as a duty officer over a span of seven years.
Todd W. Allen, who worked with the Hutchinson Police Department for more than 25 years, pleaded guilty Monday to 12 counts of felony sex crimes and five counts of violation of privacy in Reno County District Court.
The sex offense charges against Allen include: two counts of rape, two counts of attempted rape, one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, three counts of aggravated sexual assault, two counts of attempted aggravated sexual assault, and two counts of kidnapping.
Targeting women in cars posing as officers
In 10 incidents between 2012 and 2018, Allen targeted women sitting in their cars in parks or parking lots, according to court documents.
He would pose as a police officer or park security, when not on duty, and shine a flashlight in their car windows or bang on the glass. He will ask questions about whether they were using drugs and demand that the women get out of the car and follow him to the back of the vehicle or to a nearby area, according to court documents.
Once there, he would pat them down claiming he was looking for drugs or weapons, caress parts of their bodies, and touch them inappropriately without consent. Some victims reported seeing Allen wearing a ski mask that covered his face after the assault, according to court documents.
In some cases, the victim’s boyfriend or friend was ordered to remain in the cars while the assault occurred.
Several victims reported that they initially complied with Allen’s orders because they believed he was police or park security, according to the documents.
How Allen was finally caught
The privacy breach incidents ran from 2019 to 2022.
The most recent incident was in June 2022, when police responded to a home in Hutchinson where a resident said their cameras caught a man wearing gloves peering over his fence to where a mostly female party was taking place outside. other side.
The resident said the man noticed the camera and tried to turn on a flashlight to blind his view and ran away, according to court documents.
According to the resident’s description of the suspect, police stopped Allen at an intersection in Hutchinson and claimed he was riding a bicycle.
Allen voluntarily met with detectives on August 10 regarding the June 2022 privacy breach case and admitted to being the prowler. He said he «could have been» the prowler in each of the privacy violation cases in which he ended up pleading guilty.
He was also asked about two cases in which police found him walking through parks around 3 a.m. in July 2016 and March 2017.
Speaking about the latest incident, he «admitted to the detective who questioned him that he was on foot in Carey Park that night in the hope of meeting a woman.»
Reno County District Attorney Thomas R. Stanton wrote in a court filing that Allen would look up and view the incidents he later pleaded guilty to in the police department’s records database multiple times, despite that he was not assigned to investigate any of those cases.
Stanton’s court filing said Allen eventually admitted that he was the suspect in the cases he reviewed in the police database and that he was the park loitering who posed as a security officer or park police officer.
Stanton wrote that Allen offered no explanation for his actions, other than that the encounters were «sexually motivated» and he was «sexually aroused by his actions.»
“Defendant also admitted that he knew what he had done was wrong,” Stanton wrote.
Allen left the Hutchinson Police Department in 2019 and went on to work as a night shift security officer at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center.
He was arrested and charged with the spree of sex crimes in August 2022.
Then-Police Chief Jeff Hooper called Allen a «predatory» when announcing the charges.
Hooper said that shortly after taking over the department, a sexual assault was reported at a park in Hutchinson and he was notified by staff that the assault was related to a series of similar attacks that had been occurring since 2012.
Hooper said at the time that officials had not released details to the public about the series of incidents and that he held a November 2018 press conference about the spree to «alert the public.»
After the press conference, the incidents seemed to stop, and around the same time, Allen resigned as patrol officer.
Allen is sentencing his set for May 22. NBC News has reached out to Allen’s attorney for comment.
The district attorney’s office said in the plea agreement that Allen will waive his right to appeal the convictions and that the state has agreed to recommend consecutive sentences on some charges, which will result in 23.5 years in prison. Ultimately, the judge will decide on the sentence.
Stanton said all victims will have the opportunity to address the judge at the sentencing hearing.