Cop Who Sought To Photo Erection In Teen Sexting Case Kills Self Before Arrest

Manassas City police detective David Edward Abbott
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The Virginia detective who led a notorious investigation into a 2014 teen “sexting” case — in which he sought a warrant to photograph the erect penis of one of the teens involved — committed suicide Tuesday when faced with arrest for alleged child sex crimes.

When authorities showed up at the home of Manassas City police detective David Edward Abbott — a hockey coach and member of the Northern Virginia-Washington D.C. Internet Crimes against Children Task Force — to arrest him, Abbott pulled out a gun and shot himself, WUSA9 reported. Abbott was accused of soliciting a minor in an investigation into the detective’s relationship with a 13-year-old boy that the authorities said began earlier this month.

In the summer of 2014, Abbott was the lead investigator in a teen “sexting” case that received national attention when Abbott sought a warrant to photograph the teen suspect’s penis — after inducing an erection via a medical injection — to compare with the photos in the text messages. Abbott sued the lawyer of the teen over her remarks about the warrant, only to drop the suit last month.

Abbott had since come under investigation for a relationship with a 13-year-old boy he met while coaching hockey, the police told WUSA9. The boy was 11 when the inappropriate relationship began, the cops said, and included Abbott soliciting the boy for sexual acts over the phone, email and through social media.

The investigation also led authorities to believe there was a second male victim Abbott had associated with through the hockey league, and with whom Abbott allegedly began an inappropriate relationship in 2008 when the boy was 13.

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: