Ex-Assistant Chief Arrested
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YORK, Pa. - A former Dade City cop may be on his way back to prison
after Pennsylvania police
accuse him of sex charges.
Pennsylvania authorities this week arrested a former assistant chief of
the Dade City Police
Department and accused him of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
Douglas Wayne Nickels, who served time in a Florida prison for having
sex with minors and for
trying to have a fellow officer murdered, faces several new charges,
said Laura Walker, a police
detective in York, Pa.
Those include one count each of sexual assault, statutory sexual
assault, indecent assault and
aggravated indecent assault. He is also charged with two counts each of
corruption of a minor and
furnishing liquor to a minor, Walker said.
Nickels, 50, was being held in the York County Prison, with bail set at
$150,000, she added. If
convicted, he would receive at least a mandatory five-year sentence.
Investigators said the 13-year-old victim and her 14-year-old friend
were visiting Nickels from
Florida - police declined to specify where the girls live - at his York
home June 14. Nickels is
accused of giving them liquor, which they drank until they became dizzy
and sleepy.
Neither of the teens nor the victim's relationship to Nickels is being
identified by The Tampa Tribune
because of the nature of the charges.
Nickels is accused of fondling the 13-year-old and having sex with her,
according to investigators.
Walker said the girls first told the victim's 20-year-old sister, who
lives in York, about the assault on
June 18, then reported it to authorities.
"It was just a case of them telling after finding that moment of safety
away from the abuser," Walker
speculated about the delay in contacting officials.
Once police became aware of the allegations, Walker said, they also
learned Nickels was on
probation. Police issued an arrest warrant accusing him of violating his
probation.
Nickels surrendered June 26 on that warrant, Walker said. He was
formally arrested on the sex
charges four days later.
The detective said Nickels told police he had lived in York for several
years. They hadn't heard of
him until May, when they were informed under a Pennsylvania law
requiring authorities to notify
communities of the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders.
Nickels' activities while he was a member, and at one time assistant
police chief, of the Dade City
Police Department triggered an investigation by the Florida Department
of Law Enforcement.
According to court documents, the investigation revealed the following:
ˆ Between June 1976 and June 1977 he used his authority to coerce sex
from a then-15-year-old
girl he had plied with beer.
ˆ Between December 1979 and September 1981 Nickels stole a .32-caliber
Winchester rifle as
well as marijuana and cocaine from the police evidence room and either
sold or gave them to
friends, including a then-18-year-old woman with whom he was
romantically involved.
ˆ During the summer of 1989 he engaged in repeated sex acts with a
then-17-year-old girl living
with him and his wife. A year later, he encouraged the teen to have sex
with two other officers. He
also threatened her to keep her quiet.
In August of 1990 Nickels, then assistant chief, asked Officer Mike
Moffitt to put him in touch with
someone who would kill Patrolman Doyle Springfield for money, court
documents state.
Nickels reportedly suspected Springfield of telling FDLE investigators
about his activities.
Court records show Nickels pleaded no contest in August 1991 to charges
of sexual battery and
committing a sexual act with a minor. He also pleaded guilty to
solicitation of first-degree murder,
grand theft, dealing in stolen property and drug charges.
He was sentenced to three years in prison and eight years probation.
However, Nickels spent just
eight months in prison, Florida Department of Corrections officials said
Thursday.
Police Lt. David Duff said Moffitt left the department some time ago,
while Springfield now works
as a dispatcher after retiring for medical reasons.