Former CMPD officer avoids jail time after taking inappropriate photos of students

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — "First and foremost I want to take responsibility for what I've done …" With that, former Charlotte Mecklenburg police officer Tom Allen told a Mecklenburg County judge that he was pleading guilty to charges that he took pictures of underage girls' underwear during a CMPD summer camp program, and was ready to accept the consequences.

Because he has no prior criminal history, Allen will not go to prison, but will spend three years on probation, with strict limits on his access to the internet and to minor girls.  He is also not allowed to have a camera.

Allen entered the guilty pleas five months after he was arrested on eight felony charges stemming from the photographs he took of girls at the CMPD camps in the summers of 2011 and 2013.

He told the judge he has come to realize he is a sex addict and is working with a counselor and 12-step program to address that addiction.

A mother of one of the victims told the judge that her daughter has suffered and she did not want other girls to suffer the same way.

Allen apologized to that mother and to others, including officers he had worked with, saying they had a tough job upholding the law and he regretted the negative publicity that it brought on them.

"I violated that trust and I take responsibility for that," Allen said.

Because he is already taking steps to deal with his addiction, the judge said she would not require him to register as a sex offender. 

PAST COVERAGE:

Feb. 19: Police: CMPD officer arrested on charges of taking secret photos of girls

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