Decorated officer who wrote The Cop and The Kid arrested for 'molesting' three young boys

A hero cop who famously adopted a suicidal teenager and was once named Father of The Year, has been arrested on suspicion of molesting three boys between 1996 and 2009.

Bachelor William Fox, 69, became a nationwide celebrity in the 1980's after adopting a 17-year-old runaway he talked down from a suicide bid on a New York rooftop.

Fox and his new son Michael Buchanan later penned a novel 'The Cop and The Kid' about the heart-warming tale.

Fox was arrested on Monday and charged with 21 counts including charges of rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, the Sun Gazette newspaper reported.

The NYPD cop became a national icon after he talked Buchanan down from a sixth floor Bowery Street ledge in 1981.

According to reports, a crowd gathered underneath the precariously balanced boy inviting him to jump.

Arriving on the scene, Fox and a colleague talked to the boy, before Fox grabbed him.

In the book, Fox records himself telling Buchanan: 'I'd be proud to have a son like you.'

He went on to become Buchanan's legal guardian.

In May 1982 Fox was named as one of 10 'fathers of the year' by the National Father's Day Committee.

The story became a national sensation with a round of TV appearances and magazine interviews following publication of the book.

Buchanan hit the headlines again a couple of years later when he taped a fake bomb to his chest and threatened to blow himself up in down town Brooklyn.

A year later, he was arrested in Pennsylvania after he fled their Staten Island home with Fox's gun, Jeep and credit card.

Monday's arrest came after a two year probe was launched on the back of a 'concerned individual' coming forward from the Staten island area.

Police allege Fox abused the victims in his Liberty home, situated near the New York state line in north-central Pennsylvania.

It was reported Fox adopted 'more than' 10 children from as far away as Florida.

Trooper Todd Wagaman of the Pennsylvania State Police, added that a victim from Pennsylvania had also come forward at about the same time.

Speaking to the Staten Island Advance, Dr. Frank Spinelli identified himself as the 'concerned individual' who contacted police.

He claims Fox molested him while he was a boy scout between 1978 and 1980.

Speaking to the paper, he said: 'It went on for a long time, until I couldn't take it any more. It was an abusive thing.'

Fox had to retire after 11 years in the police when a drunk driver crashed into his parked patrol car.

Over the course of his carer, Fox had been responsible for three fire rescues and was twice hurt while trying to stop separate burglaries in progress.