UPDATED: 2019/02/20 5:00PM

52-year-old Philip Nordo, a former Philadelphia Homicide detective who was fired in 2017 after 20 years on the force, was arrested on Tuesday, February 19th. The former detective is accused of grooming and sexually assaulting male witnesses during investigations and then using intimidation to keep them from speaking out about the abuse.

Prosecutors say that this pattern of abuse continued over a decade of Nordo’s public service. The accusations come after a long-running probe into the former detective’s behavior while on the force. Charges include multiple counts of sexual assault, rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.

A grand jury found that the 52-year-old “repeatedly contacted young men that he sought to groom,” and upon grooming them then made threats to “make the targets of his advances more susceptible to his sexually assaultive and/or coercive behavior.”  The threats made included arresting or jailing suspects, displaying his firearm, targeting already handcuffed prisoners, and more while in interrogation rooms and visiting rooms.

These allegations do not only affect Nordo’s criminal investigation, but also could affect an untold number of convictions that Nordo assisted in.

Nordo was arraigned on February 19th, 2019 and is being held without bail.