An NYPD officer accused of sending sexually explicit messages to someone he thought was an underage girl but was actually an undercover cop is facing new charges in Queens, District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Friday.
Travis Desouza, 35, was assigned to Brooklyn’s 75th Precinct in 2024, where he headed the NYPD Police Explorers youth program, when he allegedly sent sexually explicit pictures and messages to an undercover officer posing as a 14-year-old girl. Last October, the 13-year Police Department veteran was arrested and charged in Brooklyn Criminal Court with attempted disseminating indecent materials to minors and attempted child endangerment.
He was charged again yesterday, this time in Queens, which is where the undercover officer was when, while posing as a young girl, she received his messages in a police building. Desouza was charged in Queens with attempted dissemination of indecent material to minors, official misconduct, obscenity and attempted endangering the welfare of a child, Katz said.
“As alleged, this defendant took advantage of his position with the NYPD to prey on someone he thought was a 14-year-old, who happened to be a police officer undercover on assignment,” D.A. Katz said in a statement. “The Explorers is an amazing program and our kids need to trust and have faith in its leaders. Although he was told that the ‘girl’ was just 14, the defendant allegedly sent explicit content to her.”
Desouza’s behavior working with the Police Explorers program — for young people between the ages of 14 and 20 who are interested in law enforcement — had sparked concerns. So in October 2024 authorities sent a young-looking undercover officer to approach him in person. She identified herself as a 14-year-old girl and expressed interest in the program, according to the initial complaint.
Desouza and a different undercover officer, who pretended to be the same 14-year-old girl, then exchanged contact information and he began messaging her on Snapchat. In addition to sending sexually explicit messages, he allegedly sent the undercover cop a “photo of a man wearing boxer shorts with his hand on his genitals,” according to police.
Desouza has been suspended without pay, according to police.
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