Deputy Killed Serving Child Porn Warrant
Originally published by The Associated Press, August 19, 2004
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP) — A sheriff's deputy was shot to death and another wounded Thursday as they served a search warrant seeking child pornography, officials said.
Detective Todd Fatta, 33, was killed when shots hit him in the chest, penetrating his bulletproof vest, Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne said, holding back tears. Fatta's partner was taken to a hospital.
The occupant of the house, Kenneth Wilk, was taken into custody but charges had not yet been filed, Jenne said. Other officers returned fire at Wilk, but he was not injured, Jenne said.
Wilk, 42, was arrested last year when he allegedly threatened officers who served a child porn warrant at the home. Wilk's roommate, Kelly Ray Jones, was arrested last month on charges of using the Internet to send illicit images of children to an undercover detective—a violation of his federal probation. Jones, who already was a registered sex offender, remains jailed.
Broward County sheriff's officials said the undercover detective who received the photos on the computer was the same investigator who arrested Jones in March 2001 on six counts of child pornography.
"Mr. Wilk was bragging we had not found all of the child pornography" after Jones' most recent arrest, Jenne said.
Fatta and Sgt. Angelo Cedeno, both part of a multiagency anti-porn task force, returned Thursday to find the additional material, Jenne said. Fatta had been with the sheriff's office for nine years, and Cedeno for 15.
Wilk, the only person in the house Thursday, refused to come outside to receive the warrant, and fired at the deputies after they entered the house, Jenne said. He said Wilk had several high-caliber weapons around the house.
Cedeno, 36, was wounded in the hand and shoulder and underwent surgery at North Broward Medical Center. He was in stable condition, the sheriff's department said.
Phil Roccapiore, 49, said he heard shouting and "a barrage of shots"—and saw an officer with his gun drawn on the side of Wilk's house. A plainclothes officer crouched behind a car yelled for him to go back inside, Roccapiore said.
Roccapiore, who has a 16-year-old son and 2 1/2-year-old nephew, pointed to a 2001 newspaper article on Jones' 2001 arrest. "I'm still in shock that an officer had to die over this," he said.
