Police Chief of village in Mahoning County indicted on child pornography charges

The police chief of a village in Mahoning County was indicted on child pornography charges, law enforcement officials said.

Andrew M. Soloman, 36, was indicted on two counts of receiving and possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Soloman is the police chief of Craig Beach Village.

Soloman knowingly received files which contained visual depictions of a real minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. This took place from Oct. 24 through Dec. 7, 2017. Soloman also possessed on Dec. 7, 2017, an Apple Iphone 7 smartphone which contained child pornography, according to the indictment.

Soloman met the juvenile victim when responding to her residence for calls about harassment and a juvenile runaway. During their interactions, the victim said in Soloman’s cruiser for several hours and talked. He provided her with his work email address, according to court documents.

The two continued to communicate via text and email through 2017. The victim sent Soloman sexually explicit photographs of herself and Soloman responded by sending sexually explicit photographs via his work email account, according to court documents.

If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant's role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. Sullivan following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office and the Austintown Police Department.