A disgraced Rochester police officer who raped a 13-year-old girl was sentenced Wednesday to just 10 weeks in prison for his sickening crime, but activists denounced the punishment as “the epitome of injustice.”
Sean Jordan, 40, admitted in March to assaulting the girl in the summer of 2022. It was one of at least two sexual exploitation crimes he allegedly committed while employed by the Rochester Police Department.
“This is the ultimate tragedy, because the parents trusted him,” Ontario County Assistant District Attorney Kelly Wolford said. He told ABC 3340.
“He’s a police officer. If you can’t trust the police, who can you trust? It’s a very difficult situation because he was a child who trusted someone and he was an adult who knew better.”
The sex offender previously pleaded guilty to second-degree rape and indecent assault charges in connection with the incident, which happened at a home in the South Bristol area of Ontario County.
He was arrested a year later, six months after he was charged in a separate incident with exposing himself to another teenager in an online video chat.
The sentence of 10 weeks in prison followed by 10 years of probation was handed down as part of a plea agreement.
Prosecutors said Jordan was desperate to avoid jail time and facing targeted violence from both child abusers and police officers, and they were trying to stop the young victim from testifying about the trauma.
But the victim’s family desperately pleaded for Jordan to be sent to prison, with her mother telling the court he had “ruined” her daughter’s life and “doesn’t deserve to be on the streets”.
Activists also criticized the plea deal, which the judge approved after telling Jordan he wanted him to “feel ashamed.”
“This sentence is the epitome of injustice and a dangerous agreement that tells child sexual abusers, ‘don’t worry, we won’t be hard on you,'” said Katherine Robb, national director of the Enough Abuse organization’s Children’s Justice Campaign. He told the Guardian.
“This girl will be haunted by her memories for the rest of her life. [the rapist] You will only lose 20 days of your freedom.”
Jordan, who will be a registered sex offender, could face prison time for the second sex offense that led to his suspension and subsequent resignation from the Rochester Police Department.
A trial date has not yet been set for the case.
