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Former Detroit Police Sgt. Benjamin Wagner, 68
Decorated Detroit Police Sgt. Benjamin Wagner lived a double life as a serial rapist who sexually assaulted females at gunpoint, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy alleged Thursday.
“Our survivors were between the ages of 15 and 23 when they were attacked and sexually assaulted,” said Worthy. “This case is especially disturbing to us because the evidence will show that a then-Detroit police officer is the rapist of the young women and girls in the cases that we charge today.”
From 1989 through 2017, Wagner, now 68, of 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 Tuesday 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 and 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 of the oath our 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.”
