Phillip Nordo, a former Philadelphia Police Department detective who was convicted in the spring of raping and assaulting witnesses in the homicide cases he’d worked, was sentenced to 24.5 to 29 years in prison on Friday. Nordo, 56, was found guilty after three men testified he’d approached them for information in homicide cases but later assaulted them. The instances ranged from Nordo groping them at police headquarters to forcing them to have sex at a downtown hotel. Prosecutors successfully argued that Nordo also used his position to steer $20,000 in reward money to one of the men without permission, and that he used his position on a homicide task force to intimidate his targets and keep them quiet about his crimes. A prosecutor read statements from two of the victims at Friday’s hearing, with one man saying Nordo “destroyed” his life. “I feel nothing but pain and sadness every day,” the man wrote.
