A 40-year-old police sergeant employed by Youngstown, Ohio has been accused of a sex offense, specifically of possessing child pornography and of attempting to solicit sex from a 14-year-old girl whose rape he was assigned to investigate. The photos he was accused of possessing, prosecutors claimed, were of the 14-year-old in a naked state.
The officer was arrested and will be released only if he is able to post a $100,000 bond set by the court. If released, the prosecutor indicated, he will be placed under house arrest, with his compliance electronically monitored. He is currently being kept separate from the other prisoners, since some of them may have animosity towards him as an officer. The arrest came after the 14-year-old complained about his purported solicitation. The resulting investigation was carried out by the Mahoning County Sheriff's Office, the Youngstown Police Department, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
The arrested officer was placed on administrative leave and personally surrendered his gun. He is a veteran of Iraq, where he served for a year and a half with a unit of the Ohio National Guard, returning to Ohio in early 2005.
The officer has had no prior disciplinary problems with his employer, and indeed has received a number of commendations and letters of merit for excellent service, including catching a double murder suspect. He has worked as a police officer for over 13 years and was recently promoted to sergeant. He completed state certificate training as a sexual assault investigator.
News report did not indicate what evidence, if any, investigators had that he solicited sex from the child other than her own complaint, or whether the naked pictures he was accused of possessing of her were taken as part of his assignment to investigate her alleged rape. False accusations of sexual offenses are sometimes made. Defending against them requires an experienced criminal defense attorney knowledgeable in the laws of evidence and skilled in trial procedure.
Source: WKBN.com, "Police Officer Faces Felony Charges" No Author Given, Jun. 07, 2013