TEMPE - A Tempe police officer resigns after an internal investigation reveals he is a big flirt on the job but much more than that, he admits to having a sexual encounter with a woman he pulled over.
Jared Blanchard, 26, openly admits to using his job to pick up girls.
According to paperwork on the investigation, Blanchard started at least four relationships with women involved in cases he was investigating. One time his flirtatious attitude cost him a suspect.
Blanchard has apparently been using his badge to do a lot more than just protect and serve. In August of 2007 Blanchard says he began to hit on a woman who was on the phone with him reporting a stolen credit card. They eventually met and had sexual intercourse in her parents’ pool. He was married at the time.
Sgt. Steve Carbajal, with the Tempe Police Department, says "There is a lot of trust that goes with the badge and we can’t have people abusing that trust."
It seems he often uses his religion to make a connection with the women, as was the case in September 2008 after pulling a woman over for expired registration. He supposedly used the phone number she put on the citation to text her to say she was the prettiest girl he had ever pulled over. They too eventually had sex.
Then in October 2008, while responding to a call to evict people from a Tempe apartment, he learned one of the residents had a warrant but instead of handcuffing her, he began to engage in small talk with a girl there and, while distracted, the person with the warrant took off he took more than 20 minutes to call in and explain what happened because he thought he would get in trouble.
Later that day he called the woman who distracted him says they too had sex. "We don’t want our officers using their position as a peace officer as a dating service,” says Sgt. Carbajal.
Aleah Montel, Blanchard’s neighbor, tells 3TV, “He is mannered. He seems laid back but I guess there is other sides to him that I didn’t even see."
The paper work goes on to talk about the time where Blanchard got a "no clothes" massage from a woman he met while reporting to a bar fight on Mill Avenue.
According to the investigation, the accusations of conduct unbecoming of an officer were sustained.
