Officer in Abuse Case Wants Job Back : Was Fired but Never Charged Over Alleged Child Molestations

A San Diego police officer who was fired for alleged sexual child abuse, but was never charged or prosecuted, is asking the city’s Civil Service Commission to overturn his firing.

John R. Alger, who was on the force five years, was dismissed in February after a relative of two preschool girls notified authorities that the children allegedly had been sexually molested by the officer.

His termination notice stated that Alger, 32, had violated three Police Department rules and regulations by committing “unbecoming and immoral conduct.”

Decided Against Filing

But when the cases were sent by the department to the San Diego County district attorney for review, that office decided against filing criminal charges.

Now Alger is appealing his firing to the Civil Service Commission. Although the former patrolman has not yet testified to the three-member commission, a videotape of an interrogation session with a police child-abuse detective was played Thursday in which Alger protested his innocence.

“I’m not a criminal,” he told the detective. “I’m a cop. I don’t do things like that.”

Alger also suggested on the tape that another man may have been responsible for the molestation of the 4- and 5-year-old girls.

“I’ve come across people like this,” he said. “I’ve arrested people for this. But I did not do this.”

Detective Dan Dennis told the commission Thursday that he interviewed the girls, one of whom voluntarily recounted five incidents in which she alleged that sexual abuse occurred between her and Alger.

“I made no suggestions to her,” he said. “I left it up to the girls to say whatever they wanted.”

Medical Contradictions

The medical evidence of possible abuse related at Thursday’s hearing was contradictory. One doctor found evidence of molestation, while a second doctor who conducted an examination sometime later did not. There was also considerable debate between Alger’s attorney, John Murphy, and John Vanderslice, a deputy city attorney, over whether the girls should be required to testify before the commission.

Dennis said he and his police superiors had “probable cause” to believe Alger committed the crimes after gathering the medical evidence from the first doctor and interviewing the girls last fall. Based on that information, the case was sent to the district attorney.

Cmdr. Cal Krosch said Wednesday that the file was given to the prosecutors without a recommendation on whether charges should be filed. He said that is standard procedure when a police officer is suspected of a crime.

“We just tell the D.A. that here is a circumstance where we feel the elements of a crime are present,” Krosch said. “We let the D.A. make the call on prosecution. And when a police officer is involved, we prefer that an outside body make that kind of a decision without our recommendations.”

Catherine Stephenson, an assistant district attorney in the child abuse unit, said Thursday that she reviewed the case with her supervisors, including Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller.

“I remember this is one I mulled over for a long time,” she said. “It was not a cut-and-dried issue.”

Sexual Motivation Unclear

Stephenson said her review of the case showed that “clearly there was a case of improper touching” between the girls and Alger, but it was unclear whether the activity was sexually motivated by Alger.

“It was that second part that I thought we did not have sufficient evidence,” she said.

Stephenson said her office also considered charging Alger with the misdemeanor offense of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, but declined to do so because the one-year statute of limitations had expired.

“We did not feel we could responsibly go ahead with prosecution,” she said.

Alger’s attorney, Murphy, said the allegations have smashed his client’s police career and ruined his marriage, despite the fact that he remains innocent and never criminally prosecuted.

“He’s been hurt by this,” Murphy said. “It’s been very hurtful. And it’s painful now to go through these public hearings.”

Only Profession He Knows

But Murphy said Alger deeply wants his job back. He said Alger worked for four years as a Shore Patrol officer in the military and as a military policeman at a high-security base in Wyoming. He said law enforcement is the only profession Alger knows.

“He’s willing to prove to everybody he’s innocent,” Murphy said. “His friends, his neighbors, his fellow officers are all 100% behind him.”

Krosch said that if the commission rules Alger must be reinstated, the Police Department will abide by that decision. But he said the department will not rethink its opinion of the case.

“Our investigation showed to our satisfaction that the alleged acts occurred,” he said.

The next hearing on the case is scheduled for Wednesday.