LANSING — Prosecutors have dismissed charges against a former Meridian Township police officer who was accused of possessing child pornography.
Court records show all of the charges against Alexander Stachura were dismissed on April 15, the day a judge was scheduled to hear two defense motions, including one to suppress evidence on grounds it was obtained illegally.
Stachura, 39, was a probationary officer with the Meridian Township force when he was fired in December 2024. He was charged with possessing child sexually abusive materials and using a computer to commit a crime.
Stachura’s then-wife found a flash drive containing sexual images of an underage girl and turned it over to Michigan State Police, authorities said. The images were part of a known child porn series depicting a girl engaging in sex acts or posing in a sexual manner, police said.
The case was bound over to circuit court after a contentious preliminary hearing in which Stachura’s attorney, Patrick O’Keefe, argued that Stachura’s estranged wife planted the images on his cellphone in order to frame him.
O’Keefe said there was no evidence Stachura ever viewed the images or knew they were there and called a former state police forensics expert who testified the images were transferred to Stachura’s phone, and the device’s date and time stamp was altered to make it appear they had been uploaded in October 2022, well before Stachura had even bought the phone.
On Thursday, April 16, O’Keefe said he didn’t discover until about two months ago that Michigan State Police examined a flash drive and Stachura’s phone before obtaining search warrants.
“Those are clearly bad searches,” and prosecutors couldn’t have successfully defended them, he said. Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane acted ethically by dismissing the case, he said.
“I would credit him for doing the right thing and being a minister of justice,” O’Keefe said. “My quarrel is with the Michigan State Police. They tried to hide evidence and withhold evidence.”
Dewane confirmed the charges were dismissed.
“Patrick is a good attorney, and he did his due diligence,” the prosecutor said. “Based on the motions, we decided we could not continue with the case in good faith.”
The defense had also filed a motion asking they be allowed to examine the former wife’s computer. O’Keefe said he believes the computer was used to download the images.
Stachura hasn’t been able to find a job because of the criminal case, he said.
“His name has been dragged through the mud,” the attorney said. “The last chapter of this saga needs to be told so we can clear his name.”
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Charges dropped against ex-Meridian Township cop in child porn case
Reporting by Ken Palmer, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
