A former cop with the Madison Police Department has been sentenced to two years of probation for possession of child pornography.
According to authorities, the suspect received illicit sexual photographs from an underage girl while he worked as a police officer. In fact, said Morris County prosecutors, the suspect admitted to getting the nude photos over a six-month period.
The victim in the sex crime case was a 17-year-old girl who lived in Brunswick, Ohio. Authorities began an investigation into the suspect in February 2016 after Ohio police discovered that the victim was sending nude images of herself to the suspect through her Twitter account. Brunswick Ohio police contacted Madison NJ police, which then handed the investigation over to the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes/Child Endangerment Unit.
The suspect is a 33-year-old man from Bernards Township, New Jersey. Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to criminal charges of child pornography possession, which is technically classified as a form of child endangerment in NJ.
In exchange for pleading guilty, the suspect was able to avoid prison time in the case. If he had gone to trial in Morris County Superior Court, he would have faced a possible sentence of 3-5 years in NJ State Prison on third degree charges of endangering the welfare of a child.
In addition to entering the guilty plea, the suspect also had to agree to resign from his position with the Madison Police Department. Beyond that, the suspect will be barred from employment as a public employee in New Jersey at any time in the future.
When the suspect recently appeared in Morris County Superior Court in Morristown for formal sentencing, the superior court judge ordered him to undergo psychological treatment as a condition of his probation.
The sex crime scandal has seriously damaged the reputation of the Madison Police Department, especially since it comes at a time when law enforcement throughout the country is under a great deal of scrutiny. During the sentencing proceedings, the victim’s family had a statement read aloud in the courtroom. In the statement, the family worried about the effects that the defendant’s unlawful actions would have on the reputation of the “good officers of the Madison Police Department. The defendant had served with the police since 2007.
To learn more about this case, access the NJ.com article, “Former Cop Who Received Nude Photos from Teen Gets Probation.”
