First openly gay chairman of DCs police union arrested on child abuse sex charges

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The first openly gay chairman of Washington, D.C.’s police union has been arrested on child sex abuse charges, in a case that has quickly escalated from a local criminal matter into a broader flashpoint over leadership standards and public trust.

Lt. Matthew Mahl, a 23-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department, was taken into custody in Harford County, Maryland, and charged with solicitation of sex from a minor and solicitation of child pornography. A judge ordered him held without bond following an initial court appearance, with a preliminary hearing expected next month.

According to local reporting, Mahl allegedly engaged in weeks of sexually explicit conversations with someone he believed to be a 15-year-old boy he met on Reddit. Investigators say the individual was in fact an undercover sheriff’s deputy.

During the exchanges, Mahl allegedly sent explicit images of himself, including photos taken in uniform and inside his police office. He is also accused of requesting sexually explicit images and arranging a meeting after school for what prosecutors say he believed would be a sexual encounter.

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