This story was published in the Delaware Coast PressFormer Lewes Police officer pleads guilty to sex offenses
By Terry Plowman
Coast Press Editor"He's every woman's worst nightmare. He's a police officer who while on duty and in uniform was raping women who were in his custody."
So said Deputy Attorney General Steven Wood about former Lewes police officer Gilbert B. Clampitt, who last week pleaded guilty to charges of sex crimes, kidnapping and official misconduct that resulted from two assaults. The convictions will send him to prison for eight years.
Meanwhile, in an exclusive statement to the Coast Press, Clampitt's wife, Traci Clampitt, said, "In spite of what people may say and think, I believe in my husband and always will."
Clampitt pleaded guilty at a case review hearing on Tuesday, March 5, to charges that stemmed from two separate incidents which occurred while he was on the job. The first incident occurred in August 1994, but was not reported until after Clampitt's indictment on charges related to a separate Jan. 2, 1995, incident.
Two assaults reported
In the Jan. 2 incident, which occurred at the Lewes police station, Clampitt sexually assaulted a Lewes woman who was in his custody for a bad check warrant. He pleaded guilty to third-degree unlawful sexual intercourse and official misconduct in that case.
In the August 1994 incident, Clampitt sexually assaulted a Maryland woman who was not legally in his custody, but who was a passenger in a car that had been stopped for a traffic violation.
According to Wood, this is what happened in that incident:
After the driver of the car fled on foot, Clampitt took the victim and another female passenger to the Lewes police station. He sent the other woman out to look for the driver who had fled, then sexually assaulted the victim in the police station. Clampitt pleaded guilty to third-degree unlawful sexual contact, second-degree kidnapping, and official misconduct in that case.
The guilty pleas were part of a plea bargain which included an agreed-upon sentence of eight years in prison, followed by two years of probation. Where the sentence will be served is up to the discretion of the Department of Corrections, Wood said.
According to Wood, criminals convicted of violent crimes such as these typically serve at least 90 percent of their sentences.
Clampitt faced a minimum of 60 years in prison if convicted of all the charges he was facing, Wood said. He said the victims of the crimes fully supported the plea bargain, which brings the case to a speedy resolution and spares them from the trauma of testifying in court.
In her statement to the Coast Press, Traci Clampitt said her husband made the guilty pleas because the case was putting a strain on family members' health, because the cost of legal defense was mounting and because of pressure by the attorney general's office.
Plea changed to guilty
Clampitt was indicted on Aug. 15, 1995, on charges related to the assault on the Lewes woman, to which he pleaded innocent. Subsequent publicity about the indictment led to information coming to light about the August 1994 assault, according to Wood. This information prompted the attorney generalís office to begin a new investigation on the second reported assault.
Negotiations between the prosecutor and Clampitt's attorney, Eugene J. Maurer Jr., resulted in last weekís guilty pleas in the two cases.
Wood said that while he has "no information that the defendant was engaged in any other sexual assaults," the plea bargain does not prevent the state from pressing charges if other cases are discovered in the future.
Wood encouraged anyone with information about other assaults to call the attorney generalís office.
Wood said the victims in these cases were initially afraid to report the assaults because they were afraid they would not be believed.
"The prosecution of these cases shows that we listen seriously to allegations of misconduct involving public officials," Wood said.
Chief Stoneís reaction
Lewes Police Chief Richard Stone, who was not hired until April 1995, after the incidents occurred, last week said, "This is definitely a black eye to law enforcement in general, but it does send a message that we will police our own."
"Iím glad to see it's over," he added. "It's been hanging over the department since before I started. Now we can move forward in a more positive light."
Stone said he has not made departmental changes in direct response to the Clampitt case, but said that in response to "officer safety issues" he has as much as possible tried to schedule more than one officer on duty at the same time.
In addition, Stone said he has tried to set a high standard of conduct through "departmental directives" and personal example.
Clampitt was a seven-year veteran of the Lewes Police Department who had risen to the rank of corporal. Stone declined to say whether there were any records of previous misconduct in Clampitt's personnel file.
Official sentencing is scheduled for April 19, at which time the victims will have the opportunity to tell the court, either in person or in writing, how the crimes have affected them.
Until then, Clampitt is free on $5,000 bond.