PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A jury found former Philadelphia Police Officer Charles Young not guilty Friday of sexually abusing a teenage girl between 2004 and 2008.
The jury foreman read out repeatedly "not guilty" as Young, 52, stood silently, listening to each word. He was acquitted of indecent sexual assault, corruption of minors and related offenses.
His accuser, now in her 30s, sat in the courtroom, shaking her head, and left abruptly upon hearing the verdict.
The trial lasted three days and ended after a few hours of deliberations. The jury asked for several pieces of evidence, including timesheets and an internal affairs report.
The accuser told the jury that she and Young exchanged phone numbers in 2004 when he was a cop and she was only 14. She said the two had sex hundreds of times in her own bedroom, his car and a police van, and also told the jury he would give her money and food.
Prosecutors said she could remember details, like the number on his police van, but the defense argued there were so many inconsistencies with her statements to investigators, saying it's all a fabricated story with no evidence to back it up.
"That's unfortunate that you can wage these sort of charges on a person and it sticks to their name like glue," said Young's Attorney Shaka Johnson. "Although they've been exonerated in the court of law, this is the first step in the healing process for him and his family."
Johnson says Young, who was fired from the department in 2020, is not sure whether he will try to get his job back as an officer. For now, he's now focused on healing.
