It started as a teenage girl's accusations. Nearly two years later, an Atlanta police officer said he's spent thousands of dollars, missed out more than on a year of his young daughter's life and could lose his home.
Bernett Collins said he's innocent and his case should be dropped because there's no evidence against him.
“They took her accusations and they ran with it," Collins told the AJC in his first public interview since his arrest.
Collins was arrested in May 2010 and charged with molestation and exploitation of a minor, sexual battery, enticing a child for indecent purposes and violating his oath of office. He's been fighting to prove his innocence ever since, he says.
"They made up the answers," Collins said. "They made up the evidence."
Atlanta police stand by the charges against the officer, a spokesman told the AJC.
“Officer Collins will be able to present his case in the appropriate venue: a court of law,” Carlos Campos, APD spokesman, said Thursday.
Collins has not been indicted on the charges, and no court date has been set.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said the investigation will be finished soon.
In a prepared statement, Howard said, “This case involves several allegations of child molestation purportedly communicated via verbal and photographic text messages of a graphic sexual nature.
"Our office has worked diligently to corroborate these allegations because they were directed towards a 13-year-old child -- if true -- by a veteran Atlanta Police Officer. Our investigation will be completed within 30 days,” Howard said.
As part of bond conditions, Collins was not permitted to see his own young daughter for a year.
He's been suspended without pay since the allegations surfaced. Collins, who had worked for the Atlanta police for eight years prior to his arrest, said he has no intention of pleading guilty to any of the crimes because he's innocent, and a plea bargain is out of the question.
Collins said he met his accuser and her family while responding to a domestic violence call while working in the Fair Street area, near Atlanta University Center. He wanted to help the family, which included a father and three children he saw frequently while on patrol.
Collins gave both the father and his 13-year-old daughter his cell phone number and told them they could call him if needed.
"He went above and beyond the call of duty," LaDawn Jones, Collins' attorney, told the AJC.
But the problems began for Collins when the teenager told an officer at Kennedy Middle School that her police officer friend touched her inappropriately and sent her numerous text messages.
"She said I touched her butt when I gave her a hug and [also said I] sent her text messages asking to see her body parts," Collins said.
The school officer reported the girl's allegations to police, and Collins said he was portrayed as a monster and child predator. He denied all of the accusations and was required to turn in his personal cell phone, but he said there wasn't any evidence on the phone to back up the girl's story.
“When they questioned me, all my answers were ‘no,'" Collins said. “They said they had it on video. I want to see the video.”
Collins said the girl wanted attention, and likely didn't know the problems the accusations would cause. But fellow officers jumped on the allegations, making it their "trophy case," Collins said.
"I'm not sure what their motive is, but these are people's lives that they are messing with," Collins' wife, Chenique, said.
The arrest warrant against the officer alleges hundreds of pages of incriminating text messages on files subpoenaed from Verizon. But Collins has a statement from Verizon showing he cancelled his cell phone service three years earlier.
"I got paper work from Verizon saying I didn't have service with them since May of 2007," Collins said. "So how do you get 495 pages from a company I don't have service with?"
Since his arrest, Collins says he has filed appeals and requested the department conduct an internal affairs investigation.
Collins said he his hopeful the charges will be dropped so he can clear his name and move on with his life. His lost wages and legal fees have been a hardship on his family, including his wife and 6-year-old daughter, he said.
With a judge's permission, his wife and daughter recently returned to the family's Lithia Springs home, so the family is now together again.
Collins and his attorney say they're hopeful the charges will be dropped in the case due to a lack of evidence.
“I’ve never heard of someone who is guilty begging to be brought to be trial," Jones said.
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