Police Sergeant Arrested in Internet Child Sex Sting
A police sergeant who allegedly identified himself as “Jumpin’ Cop” in Internet messages to someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl was charged Wednesday with attempted child molestation.
San Diego Police Sgt. Nathalio Caplan, 46, was released on $100,000 bail from a Los Angeles jail Wednesday. Detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Sexually Exploited Child Unit had arrested Caplan on Tuesday.
Caplan was charged Wednesday with two felony counts of attempted lewd acts upon a child younger than 14, said Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan F. Steinfeld. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted on both counts.
San Diego police spokesman Dave Cohen confirmed the arrest but declined to give details of the probe.
The charges stem from Internet and telephone conversations between Caplan and what turned out to be a police contact posing as 13-year-old “Candy 3D,” Steinfeld said. The charges involve incidents on Oct. 19 and Nov. 18, according to the complaint.
Caplan is a human relations instructor at the regional law enforcement academy at Miramar College in San Diego.
He will be placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, Cohen said.
Caplan told reporters he didn’t do anything wrong.
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