A former Philadelphia homicide detective has been sentenced to a lengthy prison sentence after he was convicted of sexually assaulting suspects and witnesses.
6ABC reports that Philip Nordo, 56, will spend between 24.5 and 49 years in prison. He was found guilty in June of rape, sexual assault, theft by deception, stalking, official oppression, and other related crimes.
Nordo was a 20-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department before being fired in 2017. In 2019, a grand jury report accused the former detective of using his position to intimidate, rape, and assault male suspects and witnesses tied to his cases.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office had evidence of Nordo’s sexual misconduct back in 2005 but declined to prosecute him, according to District Attorney Larry Krasner.
“At that time, the DAO was provided with very strong evidence of sexual misconduct by Nordo toward a young man he was interrogating, and disregarded it at a time when the Philly DAO was not known for holding law enforcement accountable, to put it mildly,” he said.
Since Nordo’s conviction, 108 cases have been identified by the D.A.’s Office of Conviction Integrity as needing review. Five of those cases have resulted in exonerations, defendants from two other cases received reduced sentences, and 20 cases are still under investigation.
Nordo’s attorney, Michael van der Veen, maintains his client’s innocence. He says those accusing his client of misconduct are “criminals, and liars, and thieves,” with conflicting accounts and a lack of corroborating evidence.
Nordo plans to appeal his conviction.
