An Oakland County Sheriff’s deputy has been fired over an exchange online. Sheriff Mike Bouchard says the deputy had been on the job only five months, and was still on probation, when he engaged online with a vigilante posing as a 15-year-old on the Whisper app.
“The way this came to us was a private citizen goes out online looking to catch people doing things, trying to make contact with youngsters,” says Bouchard. “But a lot of time, those don’t rise to criminal standards if certain specific things aren’t said or some of the exchanges aren’t met.”
An investigation into potential charges against the deputy is expected to be turned over to the prosecutor’s office. Bouchard says even if it isn’t a crime, deputies are held to higher standards and he showed very poor judgement.
