HARRISBURG, Pa. —A veteran
Harrisburg police officer is charged with stalking and harassment.
VIDEO: Watch Porcha Johnson's
report
Cpl. Todd Chance has been on
suspension since September when the allegations first arose.
Chance has been on the police
force since 2004.
The charges of stalking and
harassment stem from a failed relationship he had with a Harrisburg woman for a
couple of years. Chance, who is married, had the relationship with the woman
over a span of 10 years.
District Attorney Ed Marsico
announced the charges that will be filed against Chance when he is arraigned
before a district justice Wednesday morning.
Detectives from the DA’s
criminal investigation division began an investigation when a woman filed a
protection from abuse order in August after she claimed that she was attacked
by Chance in late August.
Since then Marsico said
investigators found evidence Chance stalked and harassed the woman by
communication.
“He repeatedly texted her,
called her, stalked her, and we allege harassed her during that period,”
Marsico said. “It was threatening in nature the things he was saying and the
things he was doing.”
Chance was suspended from the
force with pay in September.
The allegations in the
protection from abuse order from the victim included allegations she was
sexually assaulted, but Marsico said that allegation is not included in the
charges.
“In a criminal matter we have
to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt, so we filed the charges that we
believe the evidence exist to prove beyond a reasonable doubt,” Marsico said.
Stalking and harassment by
communication are misdemeanors in the first and third degree punishable by up
to a combined six years in prison and the loss of his job as a police officer.
Chance is currently suspended
from the Harrisburg Police Department with pay. He was released from jail on
$10,000 bail.
