A Detroit police officer, Earl Raynard Anderson Jr., stands accused of sending inappropriate text messages to a 12-year-old girl and has been charged with accosting a child for immoral purposes, a charge that could result in a four-year prison sentence. Anderson, who was arraigned today at the 37th District Court in Warren, entered a plea of not guilty, and his case is set to return to court on March 18 for a probable cause conference, as reported by The Detroit News.
Details emerging from statements by the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office and Warren police officials reveal that the situation came to light after the victim's mother, who is reported to be Anderson's wife, alerted authorities to the sexually explicit text messages sent to her daughter, with the Warren Police Department's Special Victims Division undertaking the subsequent investigation, during which they recovered messages that had been deleted as per Anderson's alleged instructions the details of which were covered by CBS Detroit.
Anderson, who was arrested without incident yesterday, has since been suspended by the Detroit Police Department, where Chief Todd Bettison has described the allegations as "troubling" and confirmed a parallel administrative investigation by the department's Internal Affairs Unit, with moves to terminate Anderson's pay, according to Macomb Daily.
Meanwhile, Prosecutor Peter Lucido from the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office declared, "The safety and well-being of our children is our top priority. We should be able to trust police officers to protect our children, not prey on them," advocating for justice as quoted by The Detroit News, shifting the conversation surrounding law enforcement and their duty to the community they serve. With the ongoing investigation, Warren police have encouraged anyone with information or concerns about potential additional victims to contact Detective John Talos.
