Fired officer charged with having sex with runaway
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A fired police officer has been charged with child endangerment for having sex with a 17-year-old boy even after learning the boy was a runaway from Virginia.
Thirty-nine-year-old Robert Helphenstine was officer in charge of the Fallowfield police department in Washington County when the alleged crimes occurred in March. He was fired in August.
Police say Mr. Helphenstine met the boy from Chesapeake, Va. on the streets of Pittsburgh. Mr. Helphenstine told the boy he was a police officer and took him home, where they twice had sex.
Mr. Helphenstine's attorney denies charges that Mr. Helphenstine didn't immediately contact authorities after learning from a national database that the boy was a runaway. Mr. Helphenstine helped the boy board a flight home three days after meeting him.
First Published November 10, 2009 9:55 am
