Ex-cop pleads guilty to deleting texts, photos from teen girl in Mississippi, feds say
.jpg "An ex-cop in Mississippi pleaded guilty to obstructing investigators when he deleted texts with an underage girl, prosecutors say.")
A former police officer in Mississippi accused of enticing an underage girl has pleaded guilty to interfering with a federal investigation when he reportedly deleted text messages and pictures she sent him, prosecutors said.
Mark Coleman, 57, pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing an investigation in a plea agreement filed Thursday.
Coleman previously worked for the Jackson Police Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi said in a news release. He was indicted by a grand jury in July on one count of enticing a minor and one count of destroying, concealing and impeding an investigation.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Coleman faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
A defense attorney representing Coleman and a representative for the Jackson Police Department did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Thursday.
Coleman is accused of communicating with a 16-year-old girl from February 24, 2020, to May 7, 2020, according to court filings.
When the teenager was reported as a runaway, prosecutors said he tried to delete their texts and disconnected service to a cellphone he reportedly bought her in an effort to “prevent federal investigators from connecting him to the runaway.” Coleman was indicted on July 14 and arrested several days later, court filings show.
Defense attorney Dennis C. Sweet III of Sweet & Associates PA filed a motion to dismiss the case on Coleman’s behalf in September. He said the underage girl was “using” Coleman and “had no intention of engaging in any sexual activity with the defendant.”
Sweet also challenged the constitutionality of the charges, saying in-part that the law prohibiting enticement of a minor is “unconstitutionally over broad because it criminalizes protected speech in violation of the First Amendment.”
“The defendant was engaged in protected speech in communicating with the minor, pursuant to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Sweet wrote in the motion to dismiss. “Free speech lies at the center of the First Amendment.”
Prosecutors fired back in an opposition brief, saying appeals courts have already addressed those constitutional challenges. They cited a 6th Circuit opinion in which appellate judges wrote a “defendant simply does not have a First Amendment right to attempt to persuade minors to engage in illegal sex acts.”
They also said there was evidence showing Coleman met the underage girl as a police officer acting in his official capacity.
According to court filings, Coleman picked the girl up as a runaway and turned off his body camera to give her his private cell phone number. He is then accused of engaging in “sexual explicit conversations” and asking the teenager to send him nude pictures.
Coleman also bought her a phone and wired her money, prosecutors said. She reportedly ran away a second time in April.
“The defendant knew law enforcement was looking for the missing 15-year-old, remained silent on assisting in his capacity as a police officer, and disconnected the phone that could have located the child,” prosecutors said.
This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Ex-cop pleads guilty to deleting texts, photos from teen girl in Mississippi, feds say."
