Paedo ex-cop blames illegal image conviction on ‘public backlash’ against police
An ex cop who downloaded and shared vile child abuse images blamed his "disenchantment" with work, especially due to the "public backlash" towards police since the death of George Floyd.
Anthony Mark Brown, 57, was sentenced to nearly six years in jail on Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, California.
His lawyers cited a psychological evaluation that said Brown repeated becoming “increasingly disenchanted with work, especially since George Floyd,” referring to the black man who was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020, leading to worldwide protests.
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Brown said he became a police officer “way too young, and I saw a lot of stuff, dead bodies.”
These things combined, he said, sent him into a “deep depression” that led to his crimes.
The judge didn't buy it and he was hit with prosecutors’ recommended 70-month sentence.
U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips also fined him $15,000 and ordered him to be on probation for the rest of his life after he’s released from prison.
During the court case, it transpired that a colleague called him in May 2020 and told him an account associated with his phone number had been used to upload indecent images of children to the Internet but that he would not face charges.
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“The detective told the defendant that the investigation would be closed, but that if the detective received another complaint related to defendant, both cases would be presented for felony filing consideration,” according to a sentencing memorandum from Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathrynne Seiden of the Central District of California.
“Defendant did not question why the detective was calling him and affirmed that he understood.”
The Long Beach Post reported the detective “only learned Brown was an LBPD officer after hanging up and looking him up in a law enforcement database.”
A police spokesman declined to explain beyond saying the detective’s directive was “consistent with historical investigative best practices at the time,” according to the Post.
Brown didn’t leave the force until after he was arrested in February last year.
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