News Releases

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced today that a Manhattan Beach police officer has been charged with sending explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl.

“Instead of providing assistance and support to the victim, this officer is alleged to have abused his authority when she was most vulnerable,” District Attorney Gascón said. “If officers break the law they were sworn to uphold, they will be held accountable for their actions by my office.”

John Cheatham (dob 9/28/87) was charged on February 25 in case BA493554 with two felony counts of contacting a minor for a sexual offense and one misdemeanor count of annoying or molesting a child.

His arraignment is scheduled for June 24 in Department 30 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.

Between November 2019 and June 2020, the defendant is accused of sending numerous sexually explicit messages through social media sites to the victim. The two had initially met when the girl was at the police station to report a crime.

The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department.