Former Vandergrift cop accused of having sex with underage girl waives charges to court

Former Vandergrift police Sgt. Anthony “Tony” Depanicis, who is accused of having sex with a minor about 100 times in the early to mid-1990s, waived his charges to court Monday.

A criminal complaint filed by state police alleges he invited a 14-year-old girl to his Oklahoma Borough home for sex in 1991. For the next three years, police say, he’d repeat the ritual with the same girl on an almost-weekly basis.

Depanicis was 25 during the first alleged encounter, which took place just months after he was hired by Vandergrift. He is now 59.

He is charged with corruption of minors, a first-degree misdemeanor.

It’s unclear why the charges were filed more than three decades after the alleged relationship ended.

Corruption of minors charges can be filed before the victim turns 50.

Depanicis joined Vandergrift police on a part-time basis prior to summer 1991, according to Chief Joe Caporali, who was not in charge of the department at the time.

Depanicis went full time in 1995 and retired as a sergeant in September, three years after he was assaulted during an arrest he described in a sentencing hearing for his assailant as career-ruining.

After leaving the department, he took a job as a security officer at Homer-Center School District in Indiana County but was fired once charges were filed.

Monday’s hearing was the “beginning of a long process,” said Depanicis’ attorney, Duke George. He did not address the charges.

A formal arraignment by Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio is scheduled for May 28, according to court records.