Former Concord police officer sentenced on child sex crimes

A former longtime Concord police officer was sentenced to at least three years and four months in prison after pleading guilty recently to child sex offenses, court records show.

Douglas Alan Buckwell, 42, of Mount Pleasant, pleaded guilty in Cabarrus County Superior Court to felony sex offense, felony indecent liberties with a child and misdemeanor child abuse, according to court records.

The victim was 18 when she reported to authorities in February that she’d been assaulted numerous times before she was 16, multiple media outlets reported after Buckwell’s arrest in March.

Buckwell was a Concord police officer for 19 years, including as a school resource officer since 2000. He was assigned to Central Cabarrus High since 2002, media outlets reported.

Buckwell is serving his sentence in Craven Correctional Institution, a medium security prison in Vanceboro in Eastern North Carolina, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety.

This story was originally published September 9, 2016 at 9:02 PM with the headline "Former Concord police officer sentenced on child sex crimes."