A former Long Beach Police officer was sentenced Monday to 70 months in federal prison for distributing sexually explicit images of children, including while he was on duty.
Anthony Brown, 57, was also ordered to pay a fine of $15,000 and to be placed on lifetime supervised release once he is released from prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office Central District of California said in a news release.
Brown, who is formerly of Lakewood and who now resides in Island, Kentucky, pleaded guilty on March 21 to one count of distribution of child pornography.
Previously, in September 2021, he had pleaded not guilty at his arraignment to three counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
From October 2019 through May 2020, Brown used MeWe, an internet-based messaging application, to engage in graphic sex chats with other users, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He posed as his wife and “discussed encouraging fictitious minor female relatives to participate in group sex acts,” the news release states.
While logged on and while he was on duty as a Long Beach Police Department officer, Brown distributed images of teenage and prepubescent girls engaged in sexually explicit conduct, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
On May 27, 2020, a Long Beach Police detective called Brown and told him that an account associated with his phone number had been used to upload child pornography.
The department began investigating him that month after they received an anonymous tip about a possible crime against a child, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time of his indictment last year. Brown was then suspended without pay.
Brown was a Long Beach Police officer for 27 years, most recently assigned to a Long Beach airport security detail. He left the force in 2021 after his arrest on state charges of possession and distribution of child pornography. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dismissed those charges in light of the federal case.
Homeland Security Investigations and the Long Beach Police Department investigated this matter.
