An Anne Arundel County police officer was arrested Monday after he was accused of telling an 18-year-old woman she wouldn?t go to jail if she showed him her breasts, according to court charging documents.
Then Officer Joseph Mossmiller, a one-year veteran of the department, put his hand on her exposed breast and took a photo with his cell phone, the documents say.
Mossmiller, who is assigned to the midnight shift at the Eastern District, was charged with a fourth-degree sex offense, second-degree assault, false imprisonment and misconduct in office, according to a news release from the police department.
“These charges are disturbing, but they don?t represent all the officers in our department,” said spokesman Lt. David Waltemeyer. “We think we?ve established a pretty strong trust with the community in Anne Arundel County, and this chips away at that trust.”
According to charging documents: Mossmiller stopped a car carrying two women early Jan. 20 as they were leaving a bar in Pasadena. He asked the driver if she had been drinking, lectured her about drinking and driving and told her to follow him to her home. But he detoured to a parking lot off Fort Smallwood Road, had the driver get out of the car and perform field sobriety tests, then told her that she would not be arrested if both she and her passenger showed him their breasts. The passenger declined, but the driver complied out of fear, the charging documents say, after which Mossmiller told her that wasn?t good enough, groped her, took a picture and then let the women leave.
The women went directly to the Eastern District station to report the incident. Mossmiller was placed on administrative duties that night and charged after a three-week Internal Affairs investigation, Waltemeyer said.
