Former Hutchinson officer arrested, accused of sexually assaulting people for years

A former Hutchinson police officer was arrested on Wednesday in connection with more than a dozen sexual assault cases in Hutchinson between 2012 to 2018 while he was employed with the department, police chief Jeff Hooper told media during a press conference.

Todd Allen, 51, of Hutchinson, was arrested around 2:30 p.m. on suspicion of multiple charges including rape, kidnapping, aggravated sexual battery and aggravated indecent liberties with a child, Hooper said.

Hooper said that a sexual assault occurred at a Hutchinson park three weeks after he took over the police department in 2018. He added that the incident was part of a series of sexual assaults that had not been reported to the public.

“I was notified by my staff that this assault was related to a series of assaults that had been occurring in the city of Hutchinson since 2012. I was made aware to that point the police department had not released any details to the public,” Hooper said.

Hooper held a press conference on Nov. 6, 2018 to alert the public of “potential dangers to our community and safety precautions they could take,” in regard to the sexual assaults, he said.

After the press conference in 2018, the sexual assaults stopped happening. Hooper said Allen resigned from the department shortly after the 2018 news conference that was held a few weeks after Hooper became police chief.

In 2022, the Hutchinson Police Department said it received multiple “prowler” and “peeping tom” calls. Those calls were passed onto investigators to see if they may have been tied to the series of sexual assaults, according to Hooper.

Two Hutchinson officers detained a suspect during a prowling call. Authorities were able to “piece those cases together and gather enough information that led them to believe that those prowler calls were related to the sexual assaults that occurred between 2012 and 2018,” Hooper said.

Allen’s arrest closed 17 active sexual assault cases, including 12 cases between 2012 and 2018 and five since. Hooper said in a phone call that the most recent prowler calls happened in the last couple of months.

In the phone interview, Hooper wouldn’t say if Allen was in his police uniform or on duty at the time of the incidents.