FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – A Farmington Hills police officer was sentenced Wednesday afternoon in a child pornography case that ended his career.
Matthew Parsons, 48, was sentenced to one to seven years in a Michigan state prison. He will be eligible for parole in one year, but based on the charges, the prosecutor said that's unlikely.
Parsons pleaded guilty to possessing sexually abusive material involving children, using a computer to commit a crime and capturing an image of an unclothed person. He was originally charged with 13 felonies. A motion to dismiss the other charges was granted.
[The sentencing will be livestreamed on ClickonDetroit.com]
The 20-year-veteran was placed on administrative leave in May when investigators from the Michigan attorney general’s office served search warrants at the Farmington Hills police station and interviewed Parsons. After his arraignment on formal charges, his employment status was changed to suspended without pay.
He resigned his position as a police officer on June 15.
“It is our responsibility to secure justice for Michigan’s children, our most vulnerable victims, by prosecuting predators who exploit children,” said attorney general Bill Schuette. “The children in these disturbing images were abused again and again by the predators that download and trade their image.”
Schuette’s investigation began with a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an individual had been downloading sexually abusive material involving children.