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FORT WORTH (AP) - A veteran police detective in Fort Worth has been fired after supervisors say he repeatedly mishandled child abuse cases, including failing to arrest a registered sex offender linked to the rape of a young girl.

Dennis Hutchins also is accused of failing to properly investigate claims by two girls that their father sexually abused them. A North Texas newspaper is reporting that the father was recently arrested after a third sibling said she, too, was abused.

A disciplinary letter signed by police Chief Joel Fitzgerald says Hutchins' actions meant "multiple offenders" were not arrested or prosecuted.

Hutchins' attorney, Terry Daffron, says the former detective's actions were not malicious and that he was overworked in a unit that's significantly understaffed.

Daffron says the caseloads in the Crimes Against Children unit are "crushing."

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