Philadelphia police arrested one of their own last week after a year-long investigation into solicitation charges leveled by a teenage boy.
Police arrested Adrian Makuch, 49, on Dec. 8 and charged him with unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of a minor, luring a child into a motor vehicle and prostitution.
Makuch was arraigned last week and is free on bail. He has been suspended for 30 days with intent to dismiss. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Dec. 17.
Internal Affairs launched an investigation of the 21-year veteran last year after a 15-year-old boy contacted police saying Makuch had propositioned him.
Lt. Frank Vanore said the teen told police that Makuch first approached him in the summer of 2008 as he drove through the Lower Northeast in his silver Honda. Makuch allegedly asked the teen to get in the car and asked if he could take nude photos of him. The teen did not enter the vehicle and, after seeing the car again driving through his neighborhood last fall, copied down the license-plate number and called police.
The Internal Affairs investigation included surveillance, as well as a 22-year-old undercover officer who posed as a 17-year-old, Vanore said.
The lieutenant did not disclose where or when the sting operation took place, citing he didn’t want to identify the undercover officer in any way, but said Makuch did approach him.
“At some point there was contact with the undercover officer and they had meetings as recently as last month right before the indictment,” Vanore said.
Makuch allegedly asked the officer if he could take nude photos of him and traded text messages and phone calls with him.
Makuch was not placed on suspension during the investigation.
“He was unaware of the investigation because it was meant to be a covert, undercover sting, so he was not supposed to be led to believe he was under investigation,” Vanore said.
The lieutenant said he’s unsure whether Makuch attempted to solicit any other underage males, but encouraged anyone with information to contact police.
“I don’t know how many people he approached or how many times, but part of us putting this out with his photo and all of his information was to get anyone else who this may have happened to to come forward. I don’t know of anyone else that has come forward since this was released, but if anyone does, it will be fully investigated.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].