Baton Rouge, Louisiana Police Lt. Paul G. Ruiz, 48, pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography, a conviction that will send him to federal prison for at least five years. The officer was a 26 year member of the police force. He resigned as an officer only weeks before the federal indictment.
Police Chief Jeff LeDuff said the case surprised him and other officers. The chief further stated, " from our side, he (Ruiz) did a good job". "It's very unfortunate that this has happened". We didn't know about the other side (of his life)".
The officer admitted in court records that he sent an illegal image to a FBI agent in Okalahoma, posing as a porn fan of young children under 12 years of age.
U. S. Attorney David Dugas,"stated that people should remember that downloading child pornography off the internet is a crime". He further stated, " it's not a victimless crime". " It is a crime to distribute sexually explicit images of children".
Dugas stated the case is part of a two year investigation performed by federal, state and local law enforcers in an effort known as " Project Safe Childhood". Federal guidelines requires the officer to serve at least five years in prison, with the maximum of twenty years.
My take:
This is very sad to hear. As usual, when a police officer violates his oath to "obey" the laws, it causes the good officers shame.
I just happen to have met this chief a few times and I can tell you, in a rare admission, he doesn't tend to automatically protect his officers if the allegation are serious and substantiated . He's a pretty decent administrator.
As I've said many times, all cops are not bad cops, but some cops are not good cops! Be careful all!