Policeman resigns for taking homoerotic photos

A policeman in Colorado Springs, Colo., has resigned after 100 photos of barely clad men were found in his home. An investigation of former patrolman Charles Broshous was begun after a gay dancer reported being arrested and forced to strip to a "satin leopard G-string" while Broshous photographed him. Broshous, 36, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor official misconduct November 24 and resigned from the force that day. His departure was disclosed this week under a freedom of information request by The [Colorado Springs] Gazette. During the police department's three-month internal affairs investigation, it was discovered that Broshous had photographed and collected pictures of men who were about the same age, 18 to 24, according to police reports. "Pictures that are this consistent in nature generally indicate a person's preference for their sexual desires and needs," wrote Derek Graham, a homicide detective who was lead investigator on the Broshous case. "The fact that photographs would be taken of suspects, all of whom were of the same age group and athletic build with their shirts off, indicated that Officer Broshous was intentionally contacting individuals sharing these characteristics in order to photograph them." Broshous refused to be interviewed. Through Colorado Open Records Act requests, The Gazette obtained hundreds of pages of internal investigation documents and Broshous's personnel files from Colorado Springs police and the Colorado State Patrol, where he served nine years. Those documents, coupled with interviews of people who complained about Broshous, paint a picture of an officer who abused his authority. Investigators said that, among other things, Broshous issued an unusually high number of tickets for underage drinking. He would order offenders to remove their shirts, saying he was looking for tattoos.