A police officer recently awarded the “Detective of the Year” has shockingly been charged with a misdemeanor for molesting a minor.
The 43-year-old Santa Ana Police Detective Gregory Daniel Beaumarchais has faced court charges for exchanging obscene and erotic texts with someone he thought to be a teenage girl. Gregory, a model cop before this incident, has been with the police department for over ten years. As a result of his excellent service for years, he was also a part of the police’s “Major Enforcement Team”, which was created to combat all sorts of criminal activity in the State.
Unfortunately for him, his clean slate and good work for years will probably be in vain as he faces these accusations. In addition, if he gets convicted, he will be registered as a sex offender and go to jail for about a year.
The cop allegedly exchanged adult content and text with a citizen pretending to be a 14-year-old child. This woman had reached out to Orange County Crime Stoppers, an NGO in California, to reveal this alleged crime. This nonprofit organization and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security immediately began investigations regarding the accusations.
Shawn Gibson, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations’ Los Angeles bureau, commented: “Today’s filing of criminal charges for showing sexual interest in children shows no one is above the law when it comes to keeping communities free from predators. HSI is grateful for the collaboration with our federal, State and local law enforcement partners to get these predators out of our communities and into the justice system.”
Gregory Daniel Beaumarchais was caught sending "graphic messages" to a decoy investigator posing as a 14-year-old girl as part of a sting operation. https://t.co/Wd66fOdi9U
— KCAL News (@kcalnews) August 3, 2022
Gregory had supposedly sent several explicit contents to the civilian, even while he was on duty from late last year till the first month of this year. After a while of exchanging sexual content, his social media account was disabled by the providers. Relentless, he went on to open another account with a similar ID to continue in his ways.
"*" indicates required fields
After investigations commenced on Tuesday, an arrest permit was published, and the cop turned himself in. He was later approved to go home on administrative leave but is expected back in Court on the 13th of October to face formal charges.
In a statement to the press, the prosecutor said, “Police officers are entrusted with the sacred responsibility to safeguard society from harm. It is beyond disturbing that a sworn police officer would engage in inappropriate conversations with someone he believed to be a child. Our children should not have to worry about being preyed upon by the very people we teach them who are there to protect them.”
The Santa Ana Police department also released a statement regarding this event: “Upon assessing the information, the Department’s Internal Affairs Unit determined the matter to be criminal in nature and the Police Department took immediate and swift action in referring these allegations to the appropriate local and federal authorities. Our department learned of this information on a Friday, and the following Monday, we directly engaged with federal partners to initiate a criminal investigation.”
Quite unfortunate to see a government official who used to be trusted was involved in such a scandal. From the 13th of October, he will be facing the wrath of the law for his alleged crimes and the public can only wish that others learn from this incident and conduct themselves appropriately.