FORT WORTH (WFAA) - A Fort Worth police officer has been fired because of allegations that he solicited prostitutes, engaged in sexual conduct while on duty and messaged obscene photographs of himself to others, often identifying himself as a police officer.
Officer Ryan Cantu, who had been with the Fort Worth Police Department since December 2004, was indefinitely suspended as of 6 p.m. Thursday.
His attorney, Terry Daffron Porter with the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, said she believes that her client is being singled out for alleged actions that others in the department have done but for which they were never disciplined or fired.
She points out that Cantu was never charged with solicitation of prostitution.
"You want to know why? Because they can't prove it," Porter said. "This investigation has all sorts of red flags."
She said Cantu will appeal.
According to a disciplinary letter filed Friday with the Civil Service Commission, the department's special investigation unit began investigating Cantu in February. The letter does not say what prompted the investigation.
Investigators searched Cantu's cellphone and obtained information that he had been soliciting prostitutes and having sex on duty, the letter states.
Cantu denied soliciting prostitutes or having sex on duty in a May interview with internal investigators. But in a follow-up interview in June, he admitted to having sex on duty Feb. 10 and to soliciting a prostitute, the letter states.
