A member of the Long Beach Police Department was arrested when it came to light that he had been soliciting child pornography. The 40-year-old had been a police officer for nine years when this arrest came. He had met a minor while working and had texted the youth asking for inappropriate photographs. The minor went to a school resources officer to ask what they should do about the messages. When the authorities were alerted, they obtained search warrants for N.Y. in order to investigate whether these communications did indeed occur.
The police said that there may be other victims and so are searching through phone records to establish just how widespread this activity was. The police chief has stated that this is not only a violation of the law, but a violation of the community’s trust. N.Y. was suspended without pay until this situation is clarified and is being held on a $20,000 bail. To see if any more victims would come forward, they have asked anyone with information to contact the authorities.
If these allegations are found to be true, N.Y. could be facing serious penalties.Child pornography is a federal crime and includes producing, selling, possessing, or distributing this material. This could be over text messages as in this situation, or it could involve the internet, videos, or photographs. The minimum prison sentence for child pornography is 15 years in prison; however, if the situation was more serious and involved other crimes such as sexual abuse, the prison time could increase to 50 years. Not only that, but the individual will be labeled a sex offender and be placed on the sex offender registry. If you are facing accusations of this crime, you should talk to a Los Angeles criminal attorney from our firm. We have years of experience in these types of serious accusations and will do everything in our power to protect your rights.Contact a Los Angeles child pornography lawyer today to learn more!
