Former Maryland Heights Police Officer Admits Child Pornography Charge

ST. LOUIS - A former Maryland Heights, Missouri police officer pleaded guilty Thursday in United States District Court to a felony child pornography charge.

Nicholas H. Haglof, 30, admitted viewing hundreds of images containing child pornography using his laptop computer and cell phone in 2019 and 2020. Haglof later deleted the images, but a tip from the Bing search engine to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children prompted an investigation.

Investigators seized Haglof's laptop and cell phone on July 31, 2020.

At Haglof's sentencing later this year on the charge of accessing with the intent to view child pornography, the government will ask United States District Court Henry E. Autrey for four years in prison. Haglof will also be subject to mandatory restitution of at least $3,000 for each victim who has been identified in the images and who requests the restitution.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department Special Investigations Unit and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.