Cop distributed child pornography while on duty in CA, feds say. He’s going to prison
A former California police officer accused of distributing child pornography while on duty was sentenced to nearly six years in prison, officials said.
In addition to his 70-month sentence, Anthony Brown, 57, was fined $15,000 and, upon release from prison, will be on “lifetime supervised release,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a news release Monday, July 25.
Brown pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography in March, the office said.
During his trial, Brown’s defense said the case was a “classic example of a good person doing a bad thing,” according to court documents, and sought a five-year sentence.
Howard Price, Brown’s lawyer, told McClatchy News that he believed Brown’s sentencing was “overly harsh.”
“If he were not a police officer, he would not have been charged by the district attorney at all,” Price said.
Over seven months, from October 2019 to May 2020, Brown is accused of using the social networking site MeWe to take part in “graphic sex chats,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He posed as his wife to encourage “fictitious minor female relatives to participate in group sex acts,” prosecutors said.
While on duty, Brown “distributed images of teenage and prepubescent girls engaged in sexually explicit conduct,” according to the release.
Prior to his arrest in 2021, Brown was a police officer with the Long Beach Police Department for 27 years, most recently working at the Long Beach Airport for the past 18 years, according to court documents.
“When the actions of an individual employee erode the values of our organization and the public trust all of us have worked so hard to cultivate, they must be held accountable,” said Wally Hebeish, Long Beach police chief. “Protecting children is one of our most sacred responsibilities, and the actions of this officer do not represent the professionalism and commitment that all of our employees show every day while protecting our community.”
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Brown retired from the department with his pension in March, the Long Beach Post reported.
This story was originally published July 26, 2022 at 3:04 PM with the headline "Cop distributed child pornography while on duty in CA, feds say. He’s going to prison."
