What to Know
- East Orange PD Sgt. Edward Giles faces multiple counts of sexual assault, prosecutors said
- Giles allegedly assaulted multiple pre-teen football players over a period of years, authorities said
- Prosecutors believe Giles, a 30-year veteran of the force and Police Athletic League official, may have more victims
A veteran New Jersey cop and Police Athletic League coach allegedly sexually assaulted multiple children he was coaching, and may have even more victims yet to be identified, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Edward Giles, a sergeant with the East Orange Police Department and youth football director of the town's police league, faces a laundry list of more than a dozen charges, the Union County Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.
Giles, 59, is a 30-year veteran of the department who was assigned to work as a community resource officer.
“This defendant took advantage of his position of trust in the community as a means to victimize children,” Acting Prosecutor Lyndsay Ruotolo said. “We believe that there are likely additional victims yet to be identified, and we are urging anyone with information to come forward and help bring him to justice.”
A spokeswoman for the city of East Orange said the city was cooperating with the prosecutor's office, but that it couldn't comment on active criminal or personnel matters.
The two purported victims were allegedly assaulted in separate spans between 1998 and 2003, starting when one boy was 11 and the other was 12.
Local
Authorities said the assaults allegedly happened at Giles' home on West Fourth Avenue in Roselle. He was arrested at his home Friday morning, a neighbor seeing him in cuffs and lying down on his front doorstep.
"He was calm and he saw me and he kind of turned his face. I think he might’ve been embarrassed," the neighbor told NBC New York.
The digraced cop was also a foster father, with his latest foster son being removed from the home after the arrest. Members of the state's Department of Children and Families were at the home again on Wednesday, but had no comment.
Giles will remain behind bars at Union County Jail until a hearing Thursday afternoon. Prosecutors are set to request he be held there until trial given the unordinarily large scope of the investigation.
The Union County Crime Stoppers are offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to any additional indictments. Tips can be given anonymously by phone at 908-654-TIPS (8477).
Attorney information was not immediately available.
