An ex-DeKalb County police officer has accepted a plea deal after prosecutors couldn't prove he sexually assaulted a woman while on duty.
Darren Dye-Harriel, 24, pleaded guilty Friday to making false statements and violating the oath of office, the district attorney's office said Monday. He was sentenced by Judge Linda Hunter to five years, with the first to be served in prison.
He'd been accused of sexual assault, kidnapping and aggravated sodomy on a woman who'd been on the scene of a fight he worked last December.
"The state cannot prove it was not consensual," assistant district attorney Megan L. Matteucci told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, declining to elaborate.
But Dye-Harriel's guilty pleas acknowledge he had sex while on duty and lied about it, Matteucci said.
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In addition to the five-year sentence, Dye-Harriel must surrender his law enforcement certification, be tested for sexually transmitted diseases and undergo a psychosexual evaluation. He's also being fined $1,000 and ordered to serve 80 hours of community service.
Dye-Harriel, who was with the police department a year, surrendered to the county jail Monday.
