Officer Scott Warzecha, 45, of Bismark, North Dakota was accused of setting up his phone in an exhaust fan to record a minor in a bathroom. Warzecha was fired last week and is facing one charge of use of a minor in a sexual performance and two counts of surreptitious intrusion.
According to reporting from KFYR-TV, before his firing, he was on the police force for six years and recently became a K-9 handler.
Morton County deputies began investigating the crime on Saturday when they responded to a 911 call where Warzecha was threatening to harm himself. The call was in response to someone finding the cellphone, allegedly belonging to Scott, to record the minor.
In the investigation, they detail how they found the cell phone and KFYR-TV writes that investigators, “noticed it had been cut to create a window. They also located dried blood next to the fan.” The deputies were able to get a search warrant to be able to go through Warzecha’s alleged phone and they were able to compare his blood to the blood that was found in the bathroom.
McLean County State’s Attorney Ladd Erickson is set to be the prosecutor on the case, court records show. As the investigation began by the Morton County Sheriff’s Office, they enlisted the help of BCI. An internal investigation from the Mandan department found that Scott “violated department policy.” He was terminated from his position last Wednesday.
Reddit gave the story more attention when it was posted to Reddit’s r/Bad_Cop_No_Donut subreddit, where users highlight “Law enforcement abuse stories regarding abuse of power, corruption, and other misfortunes in developing police states.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Mandan Deputy Chief Lori Flaten on Tuesday, but she was in a meeting and unavailable for further comment.
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