A member of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has been arrested and charged with first degree child sex abuse.
The police officer, identified as Lucius Kearney of Waldorf, Maryland, is accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl on multiple occasions over the course of 2005 and 2006, court documents revealed in a lawsuit in the DC Superior Court on Wednesday, December 8.
The 49-year-old man, who was 34 at the time, reportedly started texting her after the two exchanged phone numbers at the end of an interview the 10th grader conducted with him for a school assignment.
Kearney and the unnamed girl allegedly had at least three sexual encounters, into which she was not coerced, but she told the court she felt like she had to do as she was told by the man.
The officer was aware of the victim’s age during the encounters, according to the court documents.
Kearney has been with the DC police force since 2001, and lastly served in the Fourth District. He has been stripped of his police powers and put in a duty status that does not require interaction with the public.