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Briefs

Ex-officer sentenced for sex abuse

By Times Staff Writer
Published August 27, 2005

LARGO - A former Tampa police officer was sentenced to 25 years in prison Friday after a jury found him guilty of molesting two 9-year-old girls.

Ernesto F. Hedges, 50, was arrested in March on two charges of lewd and lascivious molestation. Hedges, who lived in Tampa, was accused of improperly touching two girls as he visited a family in Pinellas County.

Hedges, an 18-year veteran of the department, retired before police officials could fire him. By doing so, he kept his police pension.

Unlike most defendants charged with such serious crimes, Hedges did not waive his right to a speedy trial. His trial began Wednesday, about five months after his arrest. Cases involving charges this serious usually can take a year or more to reach trial.

Jurors took about an hour to return a guilty verdict. Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Linda Allan sentenced Hedges to a minimum mandatory 25 years in prison. The judge also designated him a sexual predator.

[Last modified August 27, 2005, 08:41:06]