HILLVIEW -- A police officer has been indicted and the investigation continues.

John W. Nissen, a detective with the Hillview Police Department, has been indicted by the Bullitt County Grand Jury on charges of theft by deception, tampering with a witness and official misconduct.

The charges stem from an incident which allegedly occurred on Sept. 21, 2017.

Nissen has been placed on suspension with no police powers.

According to discovery documents filed in Bullitt Circuit Court, the incident involves Nissen, a female and another law enforcement official.

An investigation on the third individual is still on-going.

Shelly Alvey, the commonwealth attorney who is prosecuting the case, said that when Hillview police chief William Mahoney learned of the allegations, he turned the investigation over to the Kentucky State Police.

Alvey said that the woman was being interviewed at the Hillview Police Department alleging she had been raped.

Nissen allegedly came into the interview room and the victim stopped talking. Nissen offered to take her home.

Instead, Alvey said, it appears that Nissen took her to the home of the alleged perpetrator. It appeared from the interviews that the victim and the other individual had a mutual relationship.

From that location, Nissen and the other individual put money together to take the victim to Wal-Mart to buy a phone.

Then, Nissen took the victim to a Brooks hotel and he paid for the room. While there, she allegedly was asked to perform oral sex and Nissen told her to move onto another jurisdiction.

Alvey said from the evidence presented so far, it appeared the victim was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the incident.

The charge of theft by deception over $500 but less than $10,000 is a Class D felony, which is punishable by 1-5 years in prison and a fine of $1,000-$10,000.

This stems from the fact that Nissen was on duty at the time for the city. He gave a false impression that he was on duty when the incident occurred.

The tampering with a witness charge is also a Class D felony with the same penalties.

Alvey said that Nissen was wrong in taking the victim to the other man’s home and he was wrong in telling her to leave the jurisdiction.

The official misconduct charge involves all the actions of the detective. This is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail.

The Kentucky State Police special investigations drug unit handled the case.

Alvey said a concern of her office is how the indictment and suspension would affect cases investigated by Nissen. And she also is concerned about the credibility factor in the future of any cases Nissen worked.

Mahoney would not comment on the case. He did issue a statement.

In the statement, Mahoney said that the department also began an internal investigation but no information could be released at this time.

“Our agency is asking that the community be patient while the judicial process and internal affairs investigation takes place. At this point, Detective Nissen’s police powers have been suspended. Please remember that all people are innocent until proven guilty. This includes police officers,” wrote Mahoney.

“The Hillview Police Department and our officers have worked incredibly hard to be an agency that people of our community can look up to. We hold our officers to a very high standard and hold them accountable for their actions. If the allegations against Detective Nissen are found to be true, you can be assured that we will handle the matter appropriately. The alleged behavior is most definitely not in line with the values of our agency.”

Nissen is to be arraigned on Monday, May 14, in Bullitt Circuit Court.