CLEVELAND — A Cleveland police officer is being sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to charges after he recorded himself urinating on a 12-year-old girl as she waited for the school bus after she refused to get in his car.
Last month, officer Solomon Nhiwatiwa, 34, a five-year veteran of the Cleveland Police Department, pleaded guilty to attempted kidnapping, pandering obscenity, endangering children and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles.
On Tuesday, he was sentenced by a judge to 4.5 years in prison on those charges. Because of the serious nature of the charges, the judge decided that the sentences for the charges should run consecutively, totaling 54 months at Lorain Correctional Institute. Nhiwatiwa will be on parole for five years after his prison time.
As part of the plea agreement, Nhiwatiwa had already agreed to forfeit his commission. He submitted his resignation from the Cleveland Police Department. He will also be required to register as a Tier 1 sex offender.
The parents of the victim provided emotional impact statements during the hearing.
"As a parent and as a father, you want to do what you can to protect your child," the girl's father said. "On that particular day, I feel like I failed her, even though she told me I didn't."
Nhiwatiwa said little during his sentencing; when the judge asked him if he had anything to say, he stood and said only: "I take responsibility for what I did."
RELATED: Cleveland officer accused of filming himself urinating on girl pleads guilty, faces 7.5 years
