COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A former Obetz police officer was sentenced Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to sexual battery in late January.
NBC 4 reported with an update on a case NBC 4 has been following since November 2009.
In November 2009, Wolford arrested a woman wanted in Florida on a probation violation.
Wolford, 32, was sentenced to four years in prison after he sexually assaulted a woman he arrested.
He gave her a choice of performing a sex act on him or going to jail.
The woman complied, but Wolford took her to jail afterward.
According to a search warrant, she told investigators Vernon asked her, "You want to go home?" as she sat in the back of the police cruiser in handcuffs.
The woman said she then performed the sex act and later reported the incident after arriving at the Franklin County Corrections Center.
A state crime lab later tested a substance on the woman's tennis shoe and determined it was Wolford's semen.
Wolford pleaded guilty to the third-degree felony charges Monday, Jan. 25.
Wolford told Judge Julie Lynch during his Tuesday sentencing he had no idea what he was thinking during the incident.
"So for every day those police officers put their lives on the line, there's a cop like that who ruins their reputation," Lynch said in response.
When released, Wolford will be labeled a Tier-3 sexual offender, which means he will have to report his address to law enforcement for the rest of his life.
The maximum prison time would have been five years.
For additional information, stay with NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com -- Where Accuracy Matters.
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