BRUNSWICK, Maine — The defense attorney for a former Brunswick police officer accused of attempting to send obscene material to a 13-year-old girl confirmed on Friday that plea negotiations with federal prosecutors continue.
Portland attorney Michael A. Cunniff, who represents Garrett G. Brosnan, said, “The next logical step would be a plea.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig M. Wolff on Friday filed an unopposed motion that, if granted, would extend to Aug. 23 the deadline for charges against Brosnan, 25, formerly of Bath, to be presented to a grand jury for indictment.
Brosnan was arrested June 21 at the Brunswick Police Station by federal agents and charged with two counts of attempting to transfer obscene material to a minor. If convicted of either charge, Brosnan faces up to 10 years in jail and a $250,000 fine.
He resigned from the Police Department on June 25.
In an affidavit filed Monday in U.S. District Court, Special Agent Douglas M. McConnell of Homeland Security Investigations wrote that the investigation of Brosnan began when the parents of a 13-year-old girl in Flagstaff, Arizona, reported on May 9 that in October 2015, their daughter had a five-day online conversation that was sexual in nature with a man who told her he was 19 years old.
In May, an agent with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations posed online as a 14-year-old girl and engaged in a conversation with a man identified as Brosnan, who sent the the agent nude photos and requested similar photos from the agent, according to the affidavit.
Both Wolff and Cunniff said they continue to discuss a potential plea agreement. Should no agreement be reached by Aug. 23, an indictment would be returned, Wolff said.
Cunniff said the discussions reflect the seriousness with which Brosnan has taken the charges against him.
“I think from the outset he has accepted responsibility for the alleged conduct by resigning from the Police Department, initiating the process of surrendering his [Maine Criminal Justice Academy] certificate and now engaging in discussions with prosecution about the disposition of the case,” Cunniff said. “The allegations are very serious, and he is taking them seriously. I think his actions following the arrest show his willingness to accept the consequences.”
Brosnan declined, through his attorney, to speak to the Bangor Daily News.
Cunniff declined to speak further about the case except to note that according to McDonnell’s affidavit, an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old girl initiated the online conversation with Brosnan, “which does not dilute the seriousness of the allegations against him, but it is noteworthy.”