BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Court documents are shedding new light on a former California Highway Patrol officer charged with two counts of attempting to contact a minor for sexual abuse.
Brian Pardue was charged with one felony count of attempting to contact a minor with intent to commit sexual offense and one misdemeanor count of arranging a meeting with a person believed to be a minor with intent to commit a sexual offense.
According to court documents, an undercover detective with the Kern County Sheriff's Office Special Victims Unit posed as a 16-year-old girl on a dating app when Pardue reached out, posing as a married woman.
Court documents outlined how Pardue, posing as a woman, discussed sexual acts with the minor over the app. Pardue asked how old the girl was and the undercover officer responded 16, according to the documents, but Pardue told detectives he was not sure the girl was underage since in the profile she claimed to be 18 and "people lie all the time."
In the conversation outlined within the documents, after the undercover officer stated they were 16, Pardue continued to engage the minor in sexual conversation. Posing as a woman still, Pardue asked if the minor would be interested in a sexual relationship with her husband "Brian." Pardue then began messaging the undercover officer as himself, according to documents.
Following his arrest, Pardue told officers he did not believe he was speaking to a minor, even after the undercover officer claimed to be 16. He also claimed he had no intention of ever meeting the decoy, according to documents. However, in the documented conversation, Pardue's female profile sent messages asking the decoy to meet "Brian."
Pardue told officers he had used these dating apps and websites to meet people before, according to the documents. He claimed he was just chatting and had even used the sites to look for other men who "wanted to join his girlfriend," the documents said.
He claimed it was an escape online, and didn’t think of it like there was a "victim," documents said.
Following the text conversations, on July 3 KCSO executed a search warrant on Pardue's home where Pardue was arrested and his cell phone seized. He is due back in court on Sept. 16 for a preliminary hearing.
In response to Pardue's arrest, the CHP released the following statement:
“The CHP is aware of the arrest of Officer Brian Pardue by the Kern County Sheriff’s Office for alleged behavior that occurred while the employee was off duty. The CHP continues to fully cooperate with the investigating agency and we are conducting our own investigation into the allegations. I want to assure the public that we take any allegation of misconduct by our employees, whether on or off duty, very seriously.
I also want to emphasize to the public that the alleged conduct of this employee does not reflect the values, hard work, dedication and professionalism of the CHP and its more than 11,000 employees, who proudly work each day to provide the best in Safety, Service, and Security to the people of California.”
