cop charged with child rape
While most parents of school children in the United States will take comfort in knowing a police officer is at their child's school, all too often, school cops are caught committing the vilest of offenses. As the following case out of Philadelphia illustrates, "protection and safety" are the last things some of the young children receive from their school cop.

A now-former Philadelphia school police officer has been charged in multiple instances of child sex abuse from his time as a school police officer. Former cop Howard Rubin, 51, was arrested on 12 counts and is being held on $3 million bail, court records show.

As the Philadelphia Inquirer points out, the most serious charge, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse — an adult engaging in sodomy with a person 15 or younger — is a felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The charges also include witness/victim intimidation, statutory sexual assault of a person 11 years or older, indecent assault of a person under 13 years old, and displaying obscene sexual materials.

According to the report, the exact details of these charges are unavailable and cannot be requested currently due to closures from the COVID-19 outbreak. Questions regarding the case were referred by a Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson to the District Attorney's Office. Jane Roh, spokesperson for the District Attorney's Office, declined to comment, saying it is an open case.

However, according to court records, two days before Rubin was fired from his position as school officer, his personnel file shows the school received multiple complaints from multiple young boys.

The Inquirer obtained the termination letter, in which principal James Higgins reportedly wrote that "some serious allegations have been made against you, which are now being investigated by police.... While we have yet to complete our investigation, we have determined that your behavior, at the very least, and even by your own admission, was unbecoming of a school police officer and a public employee."

Two weeks later, CBS3 reported Rubin's firing and said he was under investigation in the sexual assault of a male student. The school's principal denied the story in a letter to parents the following day, the Inquirer reports.

According to online records, Rubin's alleged crimes took place on or before July 2013 when he was employed as a school police office at the Multicultural Academy Charter School in Hunting Park. After the allegations were made public and reported on at the time, Rubin sued CBS Philadelphia for reporting the allegations against him and his firing from the school.

However, Common Pleas Court Judge Karen Shreeves-Johns dismissed Rubin's lawsuit, citing his school personnel file which contained the allegations of child sexual abuse.

Before his rape allegations, Rubin appeared in the media for a different reason. He was known as "5 foot tall hip hop cop." According to Jumpphilly.org, around 1993, Rubin began providing security for the Bad Boy Records roster of Biggie Smalls, Junior Mafia and Lil' Kim. It was Biggie who looked at Rubin and told him he reminded him of Sweetchuck from the Police Academy movies. He began calling Rubin "Sweetchuck, the Hip-Hop Cop." The name stuck. From that point forward, whenever artists came through Philly, Rubin served as their point man on security.

"I have a Napoleon complex. I will move crowds," the alleged child rapist cop reportedly said during a 2013 interview with the magazine.
Perhaps his fame had a role during the investigation into the 2013 child sex abuse allegations. And perhaps that is why no charges were filed and for the last 7 years, he's been a free man. Hopefully, if he is truly guilty of such horrid acts against children, he will get what he deserves.

Sadly, however, there is a pattern of police officers getting caught preying on children, raping women, and committing other unspeakable crimes — and never going to jail.

Last year, we reported on another school cop, officer Matthew Priebe. This officer pleaded no contest to second-degree criminal sexual conduct, attempted fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, misconduct in office and two counts of assault and battery. The charges all stemmed from his role as a school resource officer and the repeated sexual assault of multiple young girls while on the job. In exchange for his no-contest plea, prosecutors dropped the charge of distributing sexually explicit material to a minor.

The charge of distributing sexually explicit material to a minor was dropped in spite of prosecutors having the photos of Priebe's erect penis that he sent to the children. The Livingston County Prosecutor William Vailliencourt said that Priebe's plea deal would guarantee that he would spend no more than 12 months in jail — all of which were suspended.

Also, TFTP reported on the case of California Highway Patrol lieutenant Stephen Robert Deck who was given probation for attempting to have sex with a 13-year-old. The officer was caught in an undercover sting operation set up by police to catch pedophiles in the act of trying to have sex with kids. Unlike most of the other 12 defendants in the case, who were sentenced to at least one year in prison, Deck was afforded probation simply because he wore a badge.

Although every other person caught in the same sting received jail time, Deck's badge apparently granted him special privilege. What's more, this child predator was allowed to keep his taxpayer-funded medical retirement. And we call this "justice" in the land of the free.