A grand jury has indicted a former New Jersey police sergeant and youth sports director on 16 counts involving serious sexual crimes against four children, prosecutors in Union County announced Tuesday.
Edward Giles, a 61-year-old who spent 30 years with the East Orange police department prior to his initial arrest in October 2019 faces a multitude of charges including first-degree aggravated sexual assault of a child, aggravated sexual assault of a child over whom he had supervisory or disciplinary power, child endangerment, privacy invasion and other various sexual offenses, officials said.
Giles was first charged in mid-October 2019 with abusing boys aged 11 to 13 whom he coached on a local youth football team over separate spans in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Authorities alleged the attacks happened at his former home in Roselle. Giles had a foster son in the home at the time who was removed.
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WATCH HEREThe execution of a search warrant at Giles' home a week later allegedly uncovered recorded materials that led to more sex-related charges involving children. The recordings were allegedly made between April 2018 and October 2019 and involved children between the ages of 13 and 15 years old, prosecutors have said.
Giles' case was the subject of a seven-month investigation by the Special Victims Unit within the Union County prosecutor's office. He professed his innocence in a court hearing shortly after his arrest and has been on house arrest since a detention hearing following his apprehension, according to NJ.com.
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SIGN UP Giles' attorney couldn't immediately be reached for comment on the indictment Tuesday. The former cop could face decades in state prison if convicted of some of the charges against him. The investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with additional information about Giles is asked to contact Union County Prosecutor’s Office Lieutenant Sofia Santos at 908-577-4256.
