Innocent until proven guilty. May have been doing an investigation. Could have been a setup. Could've been anything. Could be a a creep!

When I was doing my capstone class for my degree in Criminal Justice, we had to pick a project and do a pretty in depth primary research project. Not secondary research. I chose to research the pathology of internet predators. I chose it in part because it is tricky to get prime research on the predators without getting your hands dirty with their stuff, I wanted the challenge. I didn't get dirty and did a pretty great project . .. a cop should be able to do better than a dumb undergrad.

When doing an investigation in this area it is one of those rules, like don't skydive without a chute, don't scuba without a tank, don't go to a gunfight with a $7 pepper spray . . . . You let your supervisor know that you are swimming those waters looking for sharks before you get in! When I did my research, my professor (incidently adjunct faculty & a high ranking cop by day), my parents, my priest and my friends in the class all knew what I was researching before I started, in case something went sideways.

You just don't go near kiddie porn unless you have adequate documentation that you are doing a legit investigation and make sure every last i is dotted and t crossed & if you do come across the real deal criminal stuff you make sure the chain of evidence is squared away. . . . . or you are scum.

innocent till proven otherwise. I took a class in office management a couple years ago and one of the teachers was a pro investigator in office fraud. He talked about a case where some guy approached a business owners wife with allegations of adultry and intent to defraud the wife of her piece of the business.

Turned out all of his "evidence" was faked and planted. Phony chat accounts, credit card statements, everything was faked by a IT temp who was pissed he did not get hired FT.

If the only evidence is one computer and he has no history, I would be verysuspect

Yep, that's why it says "charged".

never been "charged" with a crime huh.

Sorry, even being charged, and going to jail, most see you as guilty or you wouldn't be there already

A cop should know better than to investigate that stuff without safeguarding himself by telling his supervisor what he was doing. If his boss knew and could exonerate him, because he was doing a legit investigation, it is very hard to imagine any government attorney pursuing charges. Narcotics officers sometimes buy drugs, but their are safeguards in place . .. . if an officer just decides to buy drugs, maybe out of jurisdiction and gets busted he has a problem and will likely become a convict after he is charged.

I am all for innocent until proven guilty, but the lack of a supervisor saying "hey my guy was investigating, see here is a preliminary report & proper documentation" . . . it looks really bad for the cop in question.