A former Wilmington Police Department officer is indicted for allegedly sending lewd text messages to a 17-year-old he met while on duty.
Delaware’s Department of Justice’s Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust says 30-year-old Brandon Cooper met his victim in March 2020 at the Kingswood Community Center while working on an assignment.
Prosecutors say in December 2021 and January 2022, Cooper and his victim exchanged a series of explicit text messages. This included the victim sending Cooper nude photos and Cooper encouraging sexual acts.
The communications also included a video message which depicted Cooper - while wearing his Wilmington PD uniform - telling the victim to “look” as he aimed the camera at his exposed genitals.
Last December, the Division of Family Services went to the victim’s home in response to a report of a sexual abuse incident that did not involve Cooper.
Cooper, however, was dispatched to the home to assist DFS.
The victim confided to a DFS Social Worker that Cooper had sent the explicit video and DFS informed the Wilmington Police Department, which opened an investigation.
Cooper is charged with sexual solicitation of a child, official misconduct and lewdness. If he’s convicted, he faces more than 26 years in prison.
