Former Police Officer Pleads Guilty To Sharing Child Pornography On Social Media App Kik

A 36-year-old former police officer from Ochiltree County, Texas, pleaded guilty this week to sharing child pornography on social media, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Aaron Bennett Daugherty, of Perryton, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of transportation of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas said in a statement.

The former Perryton Police Department officer was charged via criminal complaint in February, according to the statement posted on the Department of Justice website.

Citing plea papers, the attorney's office said Daugherty was arrested in an undercover investigation by federal authorities into individuals who had been using Kik — a messenger app popular among teenagers — to share explicit images of children.

A Kik user with an obscene screenname — who was later identified as Daugherty — had shared a video file depicting an adult male engaging in sexual acts with a blindfolded prepubescent child on June 9, 2020.

"I'm here to look at CP (child pornography), everybody," the user posted two weeks later, according to the documents. "Go on with the CP content!"

Law enforcement later contacted Daugherty at the Perryton Police Department, where he admitted that he used Kik to view and share child pornography. Additionally, he said that child porn did not "bother" him.

Daugherty now faces up to 20 years in federal prison, the statement said. A sentencing hearing for his charges has not yet been scheduled.

A similar arrest was made in New York over three months ago when an off-duty police officer was nabbed after investigators allegedly found child pornography on his phone.

Mitchell Emile, 28, was arrested inside the 84th precinct of the New York City Police Department after an Internal Affairs Bureau investigation led to authorities allegedly discovering two videos depicting young boys in sexual situations on the officer's mobile phone.

One video allegedly depicted two boys between the ages of 10 and 14 engaging in sexual acts with each other, while the other video showed a young boy pleasuring himself.

The six-year veteran of the force from the 76th precinct was charged with two counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child. He was later released without bail.