Amanda Iacone and Thomas Warren, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – A D.C. police officer facing child pornography charges and a second officer under investigation for sex trafficking and prostitution are unrelated cases, according to Chief Cathy Lanier.
An angry Lanier spoke Friday afternoon to address the possible misconduct of her officers and the ongoing investigations.
“It only takes one cop to do one thing like this to shake everybody in our community,” Lanier said.
Officer Marc Washington and Linwood Barnhill are both on paid administrative leave. A third officer under investigation remains on desk duty.
Washington was arrested this week on charges that he took nude pictures of a 15-year-old girl, who had been reported missing. He is on home detention pending his trial. Another, unidentified, D.C. police officer is under investigation related to the same case.
Barnhill has not been charged but is accused of running a prostitution ring out of his apartment.
A 16-year-old girl told police that Barnhill set her up on a “date” during which she would be paid to perform sex acts with another man. D.C. police found the girl, who had been reported missing, in Barnhill’s apartment Tuesday night. She also claimed Barnhill took nude photos of her.
Despite the similarities between the two cases, Lanier says they are not related.
“I will say right now there is no connection that we are aware of between the two at all.”
Lanier says her detectives don’t have enough evidence to arrest Barnhill, who had been on limited duty since September 2012 because of an injury.
“We don’t have a problem walking into a roll call, if I have to, and arresting people. We need the evidence to do so,” she said.
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- D.C. police officer charged with child porn production
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