A senior country cop awarded for his service to the public is accused of sexually assaulting a woman while on duty. <\/p>\n
Sergeant James \u2018Jim\u2019 Richardson, who was for decades in charge of the one-man police station in Goroke near Horsham in western Victoria is facing serious charges including misconduct in office and sexual assault, the Herald Sun can reveal. <\/p>\n
The 62-year-old is accused of intentionally sexually touching a woman in Nhill on three occasions in January and April last year.<\/p>\n
Police allege he also used his position as a police officer to \u201cattempt to establish a sexual relationship with a vulnerable person\u201d over the course of a year starting August 2024. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe accused, a public official namely a sworn member of Victoria Police, in the course of or connected to his public office, without reasonable excuse or justification, wilfully misconducted himself,\u201d charge sheets allege. <\/p>\n
The charges were laid following a top-secret investigation by the force\u2019s Sexual Offences and Family Violence Unit (SOFVU). <\/p>\n
The specialist unit is dedicated solely to investigating Victoria Police employees accused of committing family violence or sexual assault against women, children, partners and family members. <\/p>\n
If convicted, the sergeant could spend time behind bars.<\/p>\n
Currently suspended with pay, sergeant Richardson was summonsed to appear at the Horsham Magistrates\u2019 Court for the first time on Monday. <\/p>\n
It was revealed the charges were laid against him on July 17 this year.<\/p>\n
Public records show sergeant Richardson served as the local officer at Goroke police station for decades, having manned the station from the early 90s.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear if he was still the boss of the one-man cop shop during his period of alleged offending.<\/p>\n
However a Victoria Police statement confirmed he worked in the state\u2019s western region and was on duty at the time of the alleged incidents. <\/p>\n
Sergeant Richardson has received numerous police awards throughout his career.<\/p>\n
They include a Victoria Police Divisional Commendation for his professionalism, leadership and compassion while responding to a murder in Goroke in 2012. <\/p>\n
He was also trusted to deliver important public information sessions across the region covering topics such as cybercrime, fraud prevention and personal safety awareness. <\/p>\n
Sergeant Richardson will return to court in October. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A senior country cop awarded for his service to the public is accused of sexually assaulting a woman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[94724,94757,94735,195,94734,94727,94772,94748,39410,94736,94750,56736,94725,94765,94741,94742,94746,94762,37136,94747,37834,94754,22,56121,21,9209,6453,4543,1109,94763,44508,49278,94739,16585,94755,94730,94752,94766,94771,94761,39722,94731,94726,94723,30682,94738,94756,23971,40177,42731,94732,5725,37045,94773,94740,37962,7900,94770,94764,2545,94753,94751,94768,94749,94737,1712,94728,94775,40460,67290,94745,40412,41633,94733,47672,56137,5606,94776,94769,94729,94721,37118,42948,94760,94774,94767,37964,41006,36556,94758,94743,36894,94722,94744,1373,94759,65253,7211,31772],"class_list":["post-70074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-richardson","tag-s-sexual-offences-and","tag-s-western-region","tag-195","tag-a-decorated-country-police-officer","tag-a-murder","tag-a-one-man-police-station","tag-a-one-man-station","tag-a-police-officer","tag-a-public-official","tag-a-senior-country-cop","tag-a-sexual-relationship","tag-a-sworn-member","tag-a-top-secret-internal-investigation","tag-a-top-secret-investigation","tag-a-victoria-police-divisional-commendation","tag-a-victoria-police-statement","tag-a-vulnerable-person","tag-a-woman","tag-a-woman-while","tag-a-year","tag-alleged-offending-however","tag-au","tag-august-2024","tag-austrlia","tag-charge","tag-charge-sheets","tag-children","tag-court","tag-cybercrime","tag-decades","tag-duty","tag-family-violence-or-sexual-assault","tag-family-violence-unit","tag-fraud-prevention","tag-goroke","tag-goroke-police-officer-james-richardson","tag-goroke-police-station","tag-his-career-they","tag-his-period","tag-his-position","tag-his-professionalism","tag-his-public-office","tag-his-service","tag-horsham","tag-important-public-information-sessions","tag-january-and-april","tag-jim","tag-july-17","tag-last-year-police","tag-leadership-and-compassion","tag-misconduct","tag-monday","tag-nhill","tag-numerous-police-awards","tag-october","tag-office","tag-on-duty-sexual-assault","tag-partners-and-family-members","tag-pay","tag-personal-safety-awareness","tag-reasonable-excuse-or-justification","tag-sergeant-james","tag-sergeant-richardson","tag-serious-charges","tag-sexual-assault","tag-sofvu","tag-the-62-year-old","tag-the-accused","tag-the-alleged-incidents","tag-the-boss","tag-the-charges","tag-the-course","tag-the-early-90s-it","tag-the-first-time","tag-the-force","tag-the-herald-sun","tag-the-horsham-magistrates","tag-the-local-officer","tag-the-one-man-cop-shop","tag-the-one-man-police-station","tag-the-public","tag-the-region","tag-the-remote-township","tag-the-sergeant","tag-the-specialist-unit","tag-the-state","tag-the-station","tag-the-time","tag-this-year-public-records","tag-three-occasions","tag-time","tag-top-secret-investigation","tag-topics","tag-victoria-police","tag-victoria-police-employees","tag-western-victoria","tag-women","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}