Norwalk Police Lieutenant Thomas Cummings Faced Sex-Crime Allegations Involving Teenage Boys. He Ultimately Pleaded to Three Misdemeanors.

 

Norwalk Police Lieutenant Thomas Cummings Was Accused of Sexual Misconduct With a 15-Year-Old Boy

Thomas Cummings spent 24 years with the Norwalk Police Department in Connecticut, eventually becoming a lieutenant and detective bureau supervisor.

Then came allegations involving a child.

In 2007, prosecutors began investigating allegations that Cummings had met a 15-year-old boy in an internet chat room and engaged in a sexual act with him inside Cummings's Norwalk home.

Cummings was removed from active duty and, in January 2008, arrested on multiple felony charges involving two 15-year-old boys and the alleged attempted seduction of a third minor.

He resigned from the police department shortly afterward.

At one point, Cummings faced as many as 12 felony charges, including sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor, exposing him to a potential 165 years in prison.

But the prosecution's case later deteriorated. Key witnesses refused to testify or were found to have previously lied about the timing of encounters.

In June 2010, just before his trial was scheduled to begin, Cummings entered an Alford plea to three misdemeanor charges: first-degree reckless endangerment, interfering with an officer, and coercion.

An Alford plea allowed him to maintain his innocence while acknowledging prosecutors had sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction.

He was sentenced to a three-year suspended prison sentence, three years of probation, and 30 days in jail.

The distinction matters: Cummings was not convicted of sexually assaulting the boys. The felony sex-crime allegations did not result in convictions.

But this was a police lieutenant and detective supervisor who ultimately stood before a judge and accepted convictions arising from an investigation that began with allegations involving teenage boys.

Twenty-four years wearing a badge ended with Thomas Cummings serving 30 days in jail.