Officer Arrested for Sex Trafficking Child Under 12
Missouri Police Officer Arrested
An officer with the Poplar Bluff Police Department was arrested today on multiple charges of sexual crimes against children. 37 year old Brandon Michael Hopper was booked into the Butler County Jail and is being held without bond.
The articles we have read all say the information came from a “cyber tip.” We’re not sure what this is supposed to mean. The way they talk about the tip makes it sounds as if a higher level agency caught the crime and passed on the information but normally when that happens they say which agency it was even if they don’t get more specific than that. Whoever found out what Hopper was doing, law enforcement agency or private citizen, we’re glad they turned the information over to the police department.
Investigation into Hopper
Poplar Bluff P.D. decided it would be better if a different agency investigated. According to the KFVS12.com article, “The investigation was conducted by members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol Division of Drug and Crime Control’s Digital Forensics Investigative and Criminal Investigative Units.”
The investigation uncovered that Hopper had an accomplice, 27 year old Amber Michelle Longhibler. The two individuals shared pornographic photos of minors and, at Hopper’s instructions, Longhibler enticed an 11 year old child into allowing Longhibler to take photos of her genitalia. Longhibler then sent the photos to Hopper.
According to the DarNews.com article,
“Brandon Michael Hopper, 39, and Amber Michelle Longhibler, 27, were charged with the unclassified felony of first-degree sexual trafficking of a child, the Class B felony of first-degree promoting child pornography and two Class D felonies of possession of child pornography.
Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Kacey Proctor also charged Longhibler with two additional Class D felonies of possession of child pornography.”
Neither linked articles gives any information on Amber Michelle Longhibler other than to say she was Hopper’s accomplice. We don’t know what their relationship was, where she worked or anything beyond her age.
Was Hopper Getting Ready to Escalate?
Brandon Michael Hopper had been with the Poplar Bluff Police Department for almost 10 years but in October of 2019 he became a school resource officer. This is really scary. This predator had situated himself in among a whole bunch of potential victims. The investigation found that Hopper had, not only still photos of nude children, but a video showing a man raping a 4 year old and an 11 year old. We don’t know if every state requires school resource officer training but even if they do, it’s only training. It would not be set up to catch predators. We’re very glad this man has been taken into custody.
POS
Unless you have already heard about the guilty plea & sentence of Brandon M Hopper & Amber M Longhibler, here is an update on them. Brandon received a 25 year prison sentence in federal prison & Amber Longhibler received a 20 year sentence in a federal prison for this crime. After Brandon serves his time in prison, he will be placed on probation for the rest of his life. He also has to register as a child sex offender for the rest of his life I’m including a link for this story from kfvs12.com concerning this story. https://www.kfvs12.com/2021/02/09/former-poplar-bluff-officer-sentenced-years-producing-child-porn/. Keep up the good work of informing us of the going on of rogue cops. Although I live in Poplar Bluff, Mo, I don’t always know what’s going on. But I have an interest in this story, because of the relationship between me & Brandon, I have tried to follow-up with him. I heard last week that he was going to be transferred to a federal prison in Maryland.
If I hear more, I will let you know.
Randy – Thank you for the additional information.