A Nigerian former Kokomo Police Department officer, Sinmi Asomuyide, 33, has been sentenced to 40-year jail term in the United States for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl while on duty.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Mr Asomuyide was sentenced in November 2026, with an additional three years of supervised release. Chief District, James Sweeney II imposed the sentence.
He was indicted on July 24, 2025, and convicted in June 2026 following a five-day jury trial. The jury found him guilty of deprivation of rights under colour of law, witness tampering and destruction of records.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Mr Asomuyide, then 31, first encountered the girl on June 30, 2024, after her father called 911 to report her as a runaway.
Mr Asomuyide and another Kokomo Police Department (KPD) officer responded to the call and located the girl at the home of another underage girl.
After taking her into custody, Mr Asomuyide transported her to the Kinsey Youth Center, where he switched off his body-worn camera as he entered the facility’s sallyport garage, in violation of KPD policy.
He then took the girl’s phone and used it to call his personal TextNow number before questioning her about her sexual history.
During a pat-down search, he discovered a vape pen in the minor’s back pocket. Inside the youth centre, he escorted her to a side room and told her he would contact her later to return the vape pen.
After leaving the youth centre, the girl was picked up by a family friend at her father’s direction. She sent Mr Asomuyide the username of one of her social media accounts, and he responded by requesting her TikTok username.
The two continued communicating by text message throughout the evening while Mr Asomuyide completed the remainder of his shift. The girl remained under the impression that he intended to return her vape pen.
Later that evening, Mr Asomuyide returned to the police station and requested overtime, claiming he would be completing paperwork between 10:00 p.m. and midnight. However, he left the station to pick up the girl.
He arrived at the family friend’s apartment in his police uniform and demanded to speak with her privately to determine where she should stay.
According to the DOJ, he subsequently handcuffed the minor, placed her in the back of his patrol vehicle and drove to an empty warehouse parking lot.
At the parking lot, he removed her handcuffs, moved her to the front seat and sexually assaulted her. He then handcuffed her again and drove her back to the apartment complex.
The girl reported the assault to family members and law enforcement authorities, prompting the Indiana State Police to open an investigation.
During a forensic examination of Mr Asomuyide’s patrol vehicle, investigators discovered a dried semen stain matching his DNA on the centre console.
About a week after the assault, Indiana State Police detectives interviewed Mr Asomuyide. He claimed that he had never given the girl his phone number, suggesting that she might have overheard him reciting it to a Kinsey Youth Center employee.
He also claimed that the girl had contacted him using a work phone, although KPD officers were not issued work phones.
However, a forensic examination of his phone revealed that, within hours of the assault, he had searched for phrases including “how to delete text me account” and “TextNow delete account.”
The DOJ also noted that Mr Asomuyide had previously faced an allegation of sexual misconduct while working as a police officer with the Portsmouth Police Department (PPD) in Virginia.
He was forced to resign following an allegation that he had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl while off duty.
However, when applying to the Kokomo Police Department, he misrepresented the circumstances of his departure from PPD, claiming that he was forced to resign for “hanging out” with a 17-year-old girl who told him she was 19.
The Assistant Attorney General, Harmeet K. Dhillon, said the DOJ takes civil rights abuses seriously, including those committed by police officers who betray public trust.
“This defendant will be held accountable for the kidnapping and sexual abuse of a child. We hope the victim will be able to recover and prosper despite this horrific episode,” she added.
The United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, Tom Wheeler, said Mr Asomuyide exploited his position as a police officer to assault the victim and conceal the crime.
He said, “What makes these crimes particularly disturbing is that he used the very tools, training, and authority entrusted to him as a police officer not only to assault a vulnerable child, but to try to conceal it.”
The FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge, Timothy O’malley, said the officer had abused the trust placed in him and attempted to cover up his crimes.
He stated, “The very people entrusted with protecting children must never become the ones who victimize them. This defendant preyed on a 14-year-old girl and then attempted to cover up his crimes.”
