Ark Valley News - Ex-cop returns to jail

Delgado

Ex-cop returns to jail
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: April 12, 2018

Thomas Delgado returned to jail last week.

The former Valley Center police sergeant, who is awaiting trial in connection with inappropriate relationships with young girls, is accused of violating the terms of his bond and was arrested April 4.

The Sedgwick County District Attorney's Office said Delgado, 50, sent unwanted emails to his ex-wife, who is a witness in the case.

A protective order was issued in 2017 that required Delgado not to have any contact with the victims or witnesses while out on bond.

However, the district attorney's office said Delgado's ex-wife received an email from Delgado on March 27. Two days later, she received 10 emails from Delgado. Each email contained a link to a music video on YouTube.

"None of these were wanted," a court document shows.

Delgado had been out of jail on a $75,000 bond since his December 2016 arrest on charges of sexual exploitation of a child (the case's only felony), sexual battery, official misconduct, attempted sexual battery and three counts of harassment by telephone.

Prosecutors said that Delgado used his position with the Valley Center Police Department to develop relationships with teenage girls.

Delgado was arrested after the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office received a complaint involving two teenage girls who lived in Valley Center. The district attorney's office, however, did not file formal charges against Delgado until May 2017.

According to court documents, the case involves four victims, including one adult.

Authorities said the incidents started in February 2015, nearly a year after Delgado was hired in Valley Center. Delgado resigned after his 2016 arrest.

Delgado is accused of sending sexually explicit text messages, touching the victims in a sexual way and possessing inappropriate pictures and a video of at least one of the girls. Some of the incidents are alleged to have occurred while Delgado was on duty.

After his arrest last week, a hearing in district court was held to modify the conditions of Delgado's bond.

During the hearing, a judge set Delgado's bond at $200,000.

He remained in jail this week.

Jail records show Delgado's home address is in Fort Lupton, Colo., a city about the size of Valley Center outside of Denver.

According to court documents, Delgado had been working at a heating and air conditioning company in nearby Frederick, Colo., and used an email address that was registered to the business.

The district attorney's office said Delgado's ex-wife had blocked all email accounts that belonged to Delgado "because she wanted no contact with the defendant," but she was unfamiliar with the one he used from the heating and air company.

Delgado made his first court appearance in the case May 26, 2017.

He waived his right to a preliminary hearing in August 2017 and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

A trial date was set for Nov. 6, 2017, but was continued by the defense to Jan. 22, 2018. That date also was continued, at the request of the defense, to April 23, 2018.