A Santa Ana police officer who three years in the past was named detective of the yr was charged Tuesday with sending sexually graphic messages to a decoy who pretended to be a 14-year-old woman, authorities mentioned.

Gregory Daniel Beaumarchais, 43, has been charged with one misdemeanor of annoying or molesting a sufferer believed to be beneath 18. Beaumarchais, who surrendered to authorities Tuesday, has been on administrative depart since being recognized as a suspect within the sexting investigation.

Beaumarchais, a Santa Ana police officer since 2011, was named the division’s detective of the yr in 2019 and helped kind its main enforcement workforce to suppress main crimes a yr later.

“Cops are entrusted with the sacred duty to safeguard society from hurt,” mentioned Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer. “It’s past disturbing {that a} sworn police officer would interact in inappropriate conversations with somebody he believed to be a baby. Our youngsters mustn’t have to fret about being preyed upon by the very individuals we educate them who’re there to guard them. The overwhelming majority of cops are the trusted authority figures we count on them to be and when an officer engages in prison conduct, it tarnishes the badge of all of our hard-working regulation enforcement officers.”

Orange County investigators working with Homeland Safety Investigations tracked down the detective after the decoy contacted O.C. Crime Stoppers to tell them of the messages that have been being despatched by somebody claiming to be a 45-year-old police officer.

Hello-tech crimes investigators documented Beaumarchais sending graphic messages to the civilian decoy between December 2021 and January 2022. Even after entry to his social media platform was lower off by the supplier, Beaumarchais is accused of making one other account beneath an identical social media deal with, in keeping with prosecutors.

If convicted, Beaumarchais will probably be required to register as a intercourse offender and can resist a yr within the Orange County Jail.

“At present’s submitting of prison prices for displaying sexual curiosity in youngsters exhibits nobody is above the regulation relating to conserving communities free from predators,” mentioned Shawn Gibson, performing Particular Agent in Cost, HSI Los Angeles. “HSI is grateful for the collaboration with our federal, state and native regulation enforcement companions to get these predators out of our communities and into the justice system.”

The detective was a part of the unit that responds to most high-priority prison incidents in Santa Ana. In 2016 he was certainly one of three officers concerned in a police taking pictures.