DC police lieutenant arrested in MD, charged with seeking to have sex with a minor

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WASHINGTON — A former head of the D.C. police union was arrested in Maryland this week after allegedly exchanging sexual messages and explicit images with an undercover detective posing as a teenage boy.

Matthew Mahl, 47, a lieutenant in the D.C. police department, was charged with sexual solicitation of a minor and soliciting child pornography. He remains in custody in Maryland after being denied bail Wednesday afternoon.

A D.C. police spokesperson said Mahl has been placed on administrative leave and his police powers have been revoked.

“The allegations in this case are extremely disturbing, and in direct contrast to the values of the D.C. police,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The accusations, which were first reported by the NBC4 news outlet, stem from about one month’s worth of text messages between Mahl and “Nate,” the phony identity of a 15-year-old boy used by Harford County Sheriff’s Office detective Christopher Sergent.

Sergent said he came across a post on a Reddit page called “r/GayYoungOldDating” while investigating potential incidents of solicitation, according to charging documents filed in Harford County District Court. The user who made the post said he was an older man in Maryland, looking for someone younger to get to know.

Under the guise of the teen persona, Sergent reached out to the user, whose profile name was “Introverted42.” Mahl allegedly was open about his identity, saying his name was Matt and that he was a lieutenant and 23-year veteran with D.C. police in the special events branch. The two swapped photos, with Sergent sending an image as “Nate,” the documents show, “who appeared as a young teenage male.”

Mahl eventually provided his phone number, which Sergent searched in law enforcement databases, according to the documents. He found that it was issued to Mahl, who lives in La Plata, Maryland.

The text conversations grew more intimate and sexual, even after the fictional teen’s age and “the fact that he was young and inexperienced” were brought up and acknowledged by Mahl multiple times, said police. In one exchange, Mahl allegedly asked if “Nate” was a high school sophomore. Another time, police alleged, Mahl sent a message indicating he wished “it was 2/11/27 soooooo bad.” That date was the day he understood that “Nate” would turn 16. Sixteen is the age of consent for sexual intercourse in Maryland.

Mahl sent several explicit images of his body to Sergent, the documents said. On the night of March 31, police said, he sent a “sexually suggestive photo” from the couch in his work office.

Police said Mahl was aware that what he was doing was wrong, noting that he stated in a text message “he could get in trouble, but ‘Nate’ wouldn’t as he was a child.”

“I have it all to lose,” Mahl said, according to the documents.

Weeks after Mahl’s first message, he allegedly asked the fictional teen to share an explicit image of his penis and “naked self.” Sergent texted that he would.

“Detective Sergent recognized this as solicitation to produce child sexual abuse material,” the documents show.

This led him to review online news records with photos of Mahl, which Sergent then aligned with images that Mahl had allegedly sent to “Nate.” One picture was of Mahl in his D.C. police uniform taken inside a D.C. police vehicle.

The two planned to meet in person in the Monument Circle area of Abingdon on April 14. Sergent told Mahl that Nate’s parents would be out of town. Mahl took the day off work, according to the documents, and allegedly texted how excited he was about the encounter.

After Mahl showed up that day to what he believed to be the boy’s home, he was detained by police.

Mahl is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on May 15.

Juan Benn Jr. reports for The Washington Post.