Santa Ana Police Detective Charged with Sending Graphic Messages to Civilian Decoy Pretending to be 14-year-old Girl

Santa Ana Police Detective Charged with Sending Graphic Messages to Civilian Decoy Pretending to be 14-year-old Girl

SANTA ANA, Calif. – A police detective with the Santa Ana Police Department has been charged with sending graphic messages to a civilian decoy who pretended to be a 14-year-old girl. The officer is accused of engaging in some of the inappropriate communication while on duty.

Gregory Daniel Beaumarchais, 43, has been charged with one misdemeanor count of annoying or molesting a victim believed to be under the age of 18. Beaumarchais, who has been a member of the Santa Ana Police Department since 2011, has been on administrative leave. Beaumarchais turned himself in today.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security assisted in the investigation after the decoy contacted OC Crime Stoppers to inform them of the messages that were being sent by someone claiming to be a 45-year-old police officer. Beaumarchais is accused of sending graphic messages with the civilian decoy between December 2021 and January 2022.

After access to his social media platform was cut off by the provider, Beaumarchais is accused of creating another account under a similar social media handle.

Beaumarchais faces a maximum sentence of one year in the Orange County Jail and he will be required to register as a sex offender if convicted.

“Today’s filing of criminal charges for showing sexual interest in children shows no one is above the law when it comes to keeping communities free from predators,” said Shawn Gibson, acting Special Agent in Charge, HSI Los Angeles. “HSI is grateful for the collaboration with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners to get these predators out of our communities and into the justice system.”

“Police officers are entrusted with the sacred responsibility to safeguard society from harm,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “It is beyond disturbing that a sworn police officer would engage in inappropriate conversations with someone he believed to be a child. Our children should not have to worry about being preyed upon by the very people we teach them who are there to protect them. The vast majority of police officers are the trusted authority figures we expect them to be and when an officer engages in criminal behavior it tarnishes the badge of all of our hardworking law enforcement officers.”

Deputy District Attorney Jeff Boyd of the Sexual Assault Unit is prosecuting this case.

Click here for full press release.

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