Craig Beach Police Chief pleads guilty to child porn charge

Andrew Soloman

A Mahoning County police chief pleaded guilty in federal court to one charge of receiving child pornography.

Thirty-six-year-old Andrew Soloman appeared in front of a federal judge on Friday.

Soloman was indicted earlier this year on two counts of receiving and possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Investigators say Soloman received files which contained images of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The indictment says the alleged activity took place from  Oct. 24 through Dec. 7, 2017.

Authorities also say Soloman had an Apple iPhone 7 smartphone which contained child pornography.

Soloman allegedly met the juvenile victim when responding to her residence for calls about harassment and a runaway.

At the time, the victim said she sat in Soloman's cruiser for several hours and talked. He provided her with his work email address, according to court documents.

The two continued to communicate via text and email through 2017.

The victim sent Soloman sexually explicit photographs of herself and Soloman responded by sending sexually explicit photographs via his work email account, according to court documents.

According to a court filing, Soloman said that "about half" of them were inappropriate and eventually confessed to sending her two photos of himself.

During a search of the Craig Beach Police Department on December 7th, investigators say that Soloman's phone and laptop were confiscated.

Soloman pleaded guilty to one of the charges, he is scheduled to be sentenced in June.

A federal magistrate has ordered that Soloman must remain in jail until sentencing.