Manhattan Beach police officer charged with sending explicit messages to girl

A Manhattan Beach police officer was charged last week with allegedly sending explicit messages through social media to a 15-year-old girl he met when she went to the police station to report a crime, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon said on Wednesday, March 3.

John Warren Cheatham, 33, was charged Feb. 25 with two felony counts of contacting a minor for a sexual offense and one misdemeanor count of annoying or molesting a child, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

He was scheduled to appear in Los Angeles Superior Court on June 24, when he can enter a plea to the charges.

Cheatham is alleged to have sent numerous sexually explicit messages to the girl from November 2019 to June, the DA’s Office said.

The Los Angeles Police Department became aware of the messages and investigated, authorities said, but details of when that investigation started and how the department became aware of the allegations were not disclosed.

Inmate records show Cheatham was arrested by Los Angeles police on Feb. 21 and released on his own recognizance.

Manhattan Beach police were notified by LAPD detectives of the investigation on Feb. 17 but did not have additional information about the case, Sgt. Tim Zins said on Wednesday.