Alabama state trooper among those arrested in raid on child sexual abuse charges

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WPMI) — For the second time in recent months, law enforcement in the Montgomery area cracked down on child exploitation, conducting an undercover operation that resulted in the arrest of 11 men.

“The suspects in this case specifically targeted and recruited individuals online in chat rooms and on social media sites,” said Montgomery Sheriff's Deputy Wesley Richardson. “And they agreed to engage in unlawful sexual conduct with individuals they believed to be minors. In addition, these suspects traveled to perform the unlawful conduct.”

This news was disturbing enough.

But one of those arrested gave cause for particular concern.

The man in question is 26-year-old Ryan Rhodes, who was employed by the Alabama State Police until Friday.

He is charged with electronic contact with a child, traveling to meet a child for an illicit sex act and resisting arrest.

“We are always concerned when a police officer is involved,” Richardson commented.

Rhodes' arrest came just over two months after another former Alabama state trooper was convicted of sexually abusing an 11-year-old child while on duty.

He is Christopher Bauer, a former FBI agent with a troubled past.

It is rare for police officers to be charged with sex crimes against children, but it happens more often than you think.

Bowling Green State University tracks these statistics, which were recently analyzed by the Washington Post.

They found that between 2005 and 2022, 1,800 police officers in the United States were charged with sex crimes against children.

Of these, 99% were men.

66% of the officers arrested had been in the police force for five years or more.

But almost 40 percent of those convicted were never sentenced to prison.

“There will always be bad people somewhere,” says Andy Wynne.

Wynne is the director of the Child Advocacy Center in Mobile, which employs a team of local investigators and prosecutors dedicated to protecting children from a life of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

Wynne says, yes, these bad actors can shake a child's faith.

They are working to counteract this.

“We have some really good people in our community,” Wynne says, “who not only work for law enforcement or whatever, but who lead them, who are their bosses, who can be trusted.”

And as for the occasional betrayal by a law enforcement officer, Wynne says law enforcement will play a key role in righting that wrong, too.

“Who exposed these people? It was other law enforcement officers, you know. And we want to say: Oh man, you can't trust them. Yes, there must be bad people somewhere. But I know where I'm going to put my money.”

As for ALEA, the agency that oversees the Alabama State Troopers, we were informed that former Chief Trooper Ryan Rhodes resigned from his position on Friday.