TACOMA, Wash. – A retired Tacoma police officer was sentenced Friday to nearly 20 years in prison for a litany of child sex crimes.

In November, Lee William Giles Jr. and his girlfriend, Maureen Wear, each pleaded guilty to first-degree child rape, second-degree child rape, first-degree child molestation and third-degree assault of a child. The charges involved young relatives.

Sixty-one-year-old Giles received 19 years, 8 months after pleading guilty late last year to first- and second-degree child rape, first-degree child molestation and third-degree assault.

His girlfriend, Maureen Wear, pleaded guilty to the same charges. She will be sentenced at a later date.

From the very beginning, the allegations against Giles were stunning. Prosecutors say Giles repeatedly raped his own girlfriend's young son over a period of years, videotaped the crimes, and that Wear – the victim's own mother – was involved in the attacks.

Court papers indicated that other female family members were also victimized. It was mounting, gut-wrenching evidence that doomed either defendant during a trial.

KING

Former Tacoma Police officer Lee William Giles pleads guilty to child rape and molestation charges in Tacoma, Wash. on Monday, Nov. 26, 2007.

Since Giles was a police officer, he most likely will not serve his prison time in a Washington State prison, but rather be sent out of state.

Lee William Giles Jr. did not make a statement at his sentencing Friday. He frequently visited schools and appeared on television and radio during a 30-year police career before his retirement in 2000.

As an officer, Giles appeared with Harvey, a talking motorcycle, in a grade school program designed to make police less scary, and was involved in the TV program "Behind the Shield."

Officials say there was no record of accusations of sexual misconduct by Giles while he was a Tacoma police officer.

Wear's sentencing hearing on Friday was postponed.