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August 27, 2005
Ex-cop held in girl's rape
WHITE PLAINS — A former New York City police detective accused of molesting two 11-year-old cousins in a Yonkers hotel now is facing a rape charge alleging that he forced a 13-year-old relative of the girls to have sex with him that same day.
Brian Tuitt, 38, pleaded not guilty yesterday at his arraignment in Westchester County Court. He was indicted on charges of first-degree rape, first-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. He is accused of sexually abusing the girls Feb. 3 at a hotel on Tuckahoe Road.
The girls, from Pennsylvania, were staying at the hotel with the mother of one of them while she was in New York on business. Tuitt, a friend of the family, had gone there while on duty, in uniform, to visit.
That same day, after he returned to work, he was arrested on an unrelated charge accusing him of fondling a 6-year-old daughter of a female friend in the Bronx on several occasions over the previous seven months. He was released on bail and suspended, and later resigned.
The mother of one of the girls allegedly abused at the hotel reported her suspicions to Yonkers police five days later. Tuitt was arrested Feb. 16 at his Pine Island home in Orange County after an investigation by the Yonkers police child abuse squad and the special prosecutions bureau of the District Attorney's Office.
While en route to Yonkers, according to court records, Tuitt told detectives he knew what they wanted to talk to him about and that it was all a big mistake. He admitted being at the hotel but insisted he never was alone with the girls, and that the mother was present the whole time, according to the records.
"My client adamantly denies any inappropriate conduct relating to these three girls," defense lawyer Barry Warhit said after the arraignment.
The case was presented to a grand jury after Tuitt rejected a plea deal that would have sent him to state prison for two years. Instead, he faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the rape charge.
Tuitt was returned to the Westchester County jail, where he has been held on $250,000 bail since the week of his arrest. The Bronx charges against him are pending and now include allegations that he sexually abused the 11-year-old sister of the 6-year-old girl. He is due back in court on that case in late September and in the Westchester case Nov. 30.
The 18-year veteran police officer was assigned to the New York Police Department's Community Affairs Division and volunteered at children's camps in Los Angeles and Croatia. A decade ago, he worked in the NYPD's cybercop unit, helping to track child pornography on the Internet.
Tuitt had custody of his three children, two girls and a boy, at the time of his arrest. They were taken by Child Protective Services in Orange County.
Posted by Nealus at August 27, 2005 12:56 PM
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