13-Year Dallas Police Veteran Daniel Collins Arrested, Charged With Child Sexual Exploitation
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) — A 35-year-old senior corporal with the Dallas Police Department's Auto Theft Unit has been charged with uploading sexually explicit images of children using the City of Dallas' employee internet.
After being arrested by officials with Homeland Security, Daniel Lee Collins was charged with one count of transportation of child pornography.
It was a Dallas IT specialist who traced the IP addresses used for the uploads to the City of Dallas internet network. According to court documents, Collins allegedly used the network to uploaded sexually explicit photos of prepubescent girls to his various Google accounts.
Google flagged the images to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and filed a report with the Dallas Police Department. In that report, they detailed how one of the profiles included a photo of a man in a police uniform. It was later determined that person was Collins.
"Law enforcement officers take an oath to protect and serve," said U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox. "This defendant allegedly undermined that vow, preying upon our most vulnerable."
In an interview with federal agents, Collins allegedly admitted to accessing the accounts and saving child pornography.
Collins has been placed on administrative leave by the police department pending the results of an internal investigation. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
