Ex-LAPD officer in child porn case
A retired Los Angeles Police Department officer was arrested Friday on suspicion of felony possession of child pornography and nine misdemeanor counts of child annoyance.
Prosecutors recommended that Ralph Cameron Lakin, 53, of La Palma be held on $20,000 bail.
If convicted, he faces three years in prison on the felony charge and up to one year in county jail for each misdemeanor count.
According to a news release from the Garden Grove Police Department, Lakin used a digital camera to take more than 90 photographs of girls between the ages of 4 and 13 at last year’s Strawberry Festival -- an annual family event with a parade, rides, food and bands. He allegedly photographed the girls’ buttocks and pubic regions.
The father of a 5-year-old girl detained Lakin when a witness saw him attempting to photograph his daughter. Police said investigators found about 150 sexually suggestive photographs of young girls on Lakin’s home computer.
Lakin reviewed excessive-force cases for the LAPD and retired in February.
-- H.G. Reza
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