Former LMPD Officer Pleads Guilty To Attempted Enticement

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Former Louisville Metro Police officer Brandon Wood has been charged in a felony Information and pleaded guilty to attempted enticement, announced United States Attorney Russell M. Coleman.

“The tragedy of the LMPD Explorer Program is that Mr. Wood and others used a well-intended program designed to recruit our finest young people into law enforcement service as a tool to exploit those same kids,” stated U.S Attorney Russell Coleman. “The United States looks forward to his sentencing to a term of years in federal prison.”

"Brandon Wood's guilty plea is a testament to the FBI Louisville’s Public Corruption Civil Rights Task Force's hard work.  The FBI and its task force partners, Louisville Metro Police Department and the Kentucky Attorney General's Office, are dedicated to preserving the integrity of our governmental institutions,” said FBI SAC James Robert Brown Jr. “Whether that be law enforcement or elected officials, no one is above the law."

According to a plea agreement, between 2011 and 2012, Wood attempted to entice John Doe 1, who had not reached 18 years of age, to engage in sexual activity. Wood met Doe through the LMPD Explorers Program during a camp held in Bullitt County – where Wood was a counselor and sworn LMPD officer. Wood used social media to contact John Doe 1 after the camp.  Those communications resulted in an attempt to entice the minor to engage in sexual activity.

The attempted enticement charge carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years’ imprisonment, a maximum fine of $250,000.00, followed by no less than 5 years and could be up to a life term of Supervised Release.

Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless is prosecuting the case which is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Louisville Metro Police Department’s Public Integrity Unit.

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 This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.