A Jacksonville police officer with nine years on the force was arrested Tuesday after an image of a nude girl was found on his cellphone that led to a rape charge, according to Undersheriff Pat Ivey.
Matthew Harper Butler, 39, was charged with capital sexual battery of a victim younger than 12 and remained behind bars on $1 million bail after his 6 p.m. booking, according to Duval County jail records. He immediately resigned his position as an attempt was made to interview him, the undersheriff said.
His arrest was the second of a Jacksonville police officer in the past week, another jailed Sunday on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after his girlfriend and two other women were threatened with a gun, the Sheriff’s Office said. Nine Sheriff’s Office staff, including police and corrections officers, were arrested last year, Ivey said.
The Sheriff’s Office’s Integrity unit received a tip Friday that Butler, who was assigned the downtown beat, had the image of the underage girl on his cellphone, Ivey said.
“Information came forward, and I think he made a statement to someone, who then notified us,” Ivey said. “We went and got him.”
No other information on the girl or Butler’s relationship to her was released. The undersheriff said investigators have seized all of Butler’s electronics to search them.
“We will take this case and go wherever it takes us,” Ivey said.
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