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Former Detroit Police Sgt. Benjamin Wagner, 68
Decorated ex-Detroit Police Sgt. Benjamin Wagner, who is accused of sexually assaulting young females at gunpoint, was arraigned Thursday in Detroit 36th District Court, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy alleged Thursday.
A probable cause conference is set for April 7, and the preliminary exam is set for April 14.
From 1989 through 2017, Wagner, now 68, who was living in Greenville, N.C., worked as a Detroit police officer. He was eventually promoted to sergeant. He retired to North Carolina in 2017 and was working for the Greenville, N.C., airport.
He was arrested last week in North Carolina and waived extradition.
Authorities allege that he sexually assaulted young women and girls in northwest Detroit, all within about five miles of his home on Bentler Street, between 1999 and 2003.
In one instance, on Nov. 10, 1999, authorities allege that a 17-year-old girl, after working a shift, took a bus to a stop at Chalfonte and Mark Twain streets near the home of a friend and began walking when Wagner approached, pointed a gun, ordered her from the scene, and sexually assaulted her.
In another instance, on Jan. 31, 2000, Wagner approached a 23-year-old woman in the 18400 block of Wyoming, pointed a gun at her head, and ordered her from the scene, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her.
In August 2002, a Wayne County jury found Wagner not guilty of sexually abusing his stepdaughter over a number of years. After the case, he returned to the department until he retired in 2017.
“The evidence found in this case concerning former DPD Sergeant Benjamin Wagner is egregious and disturbing,” said Detroit Police Chief Todd A. Bettison in a statement. “It represents a deep betrayal to the oath us officers take as a symbol of public faith, as it violates the trust placed in law enforcement. Mr. Wagner’s actions do not represent the integrity, values, or mission held by the officers of the Detroit Police Department.”
