A police officer for a Hawaii police department will serve probation after admitting to several charges stemming from allegations he raped a 5-year-old girl starting in 2004 and continuing until 2008.
Honolulu police officer Teddy O. Van Lerberghe signed an agreement that guaranteed he won’t spend a single day in jail.
Instead, Van Lerberghe was sentenced to five years of probation with no jail term at all as a condition of the plea agreement.
As part of the deal, Van Lerberghe must register as a convicted sex offender for the remainder of his life.
In 2017, a grand jury indicted Van Lerberghe on seven counts of sexual assault against a 5-year-old victim for repeatedly raping her over the course of four years when the victim was less than 14.
He remained free after posting a $100,00 bail.
Van Lerberghe, who potentially faced a 100 years total in prison, entered a plea of no contest and a judge found him guilty of the seven class felonies. and misdemeanors, which carry a maximum of five years.
Van Lerberghe served as a police officer at the Honolulu Police Department from 2007 until he was terminated from the department in May 2016.
In a related story, a 33-year-old cop in South Carolina also received no jail time after using his firearm to intimidate a 15-year-old girl to skip school, so he could sexually assault her in his patrol car.
In that case, Fountain Inn police officer Adam Kyle Snelgrove, 33, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor and misconduct in office in a plea deal where prosecutors dropped the felony criminal sexual conduct with a minor charge in exchange for a guilty plea to misdemeanor.
He also gave up his badge and is banned from ever working in law enforcement, which we reported is common that cops use their badge in exchange for no jail time when they face serious crimes like rape, aggravated assault and sexually assaulting children.
