A former Plano police officer pleaded guilty Friday to sexually assaulting a teenage girl in exchange for a 15-year prison sentence, said Greg Davis, Collin County's first assistant district attorney.

"We think it sends a clear message to child predators that we're going to deal with you very harshly regardless of who you are in this community," Mr. Davis said.

"We're happy that we could conclude the case in the manner we did, without having to subject the little girl to testify in this case, so she can go forward with her life," he said.

The teenage girl is not being identified because of her age and The Dallas Morning News' policy to not name victims of sexual crimes. She told police that the fondling and touching began in 2003 when she was 13. She said Mr. Sullivan told her she was his "soul mate" and that he loved her, according to court documents.

The girl told officials that the touching became more intimate after she turned 14 but denied that she and Mr. Sullivan had sex. She said that he tried to have sex with her on three occasions but stopped when she said it hurt, according to court records.

Investigators said Mr. Sullivan also told the girl that she had "the power to destroy him and he could be in jail the rest of his life if she told."

Mr. Sullivan was a 14-year veteran of the Plano Police Department when he resigned in March 2006 on the same day McKinney police arrested him. He was a training officer at the Tri-City Academy, a position he asked to be transferred to in November 1997, according to police records.

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