Fired Pa. officer charged with sex with runaway

CANONSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A fired southwestern Pennsylvania police officer has been charged with child endangerment for having sex with a 17-year-old boy even after learning the boy was a runaway from Virginia.

Thirty-nine-year-old Robert Helphenstine was officer in charge of the tiny Fallowfield Township police department in Washington County when the alleged crimes occurred in March. He was fired in August.

Police say Helphenstine met the boy from Chesapeake, Va., on the streets of Pittsburgh. Helphenstine told the boy he was a police officer and took him home, where they twice had sex.

Helphenstine’s attorney denies charges that Helphenstine didn’t immediately contact authorities after learning from a national database that the boy was a runaway. Helphenstine helped the boy board a flight home three days after meeting him.