An Atlanta police officer was arrested and fired Thursday after a massage therapist alleged he sexually assaulted her and then took back the money he’d paid her for their appointment, officials said.
Muhammad Muhammad was arrested at police headquarters on charges of rape and false imprisonment.
Authorities said the investigation began June 8 when a woman told investigators she had been sexually assaulted by the officer two days earlier in southwest Atlanta.
The woman said she had arranged to meet with Muhammad, who paid her for a massage, according to police. Once the session began, however, the woman said the officer “became aggressive,” Atlanta police said.
“She informed the suspect that her services were not sexual in nature and requested that he stop,” police said in a news release announcing the ex-officer’s arrest.
Muhammad is accused of sexually assaulting the woman and then allegedly brandishing a gun while taking back the money he had given her for their appointment.
A department spokesman said Muhammad was assigned to Zone 4, which covers southwest Atlanta. State records show Muhammad started with the department in November 2020 after graduating from APD’s police academy.
“We have been clear, no one is above the law, including members of our own department,” APD said in a statement. “These allegations are deeply troubling and run counter to the values and expectations of our agency.”
The case was investigated by the department’s Special Victims Unit and its Office of Professional Standards, authorities said. Muhammad, who had been on administrative leave since June, was fired after a disciplinary hearing, the department said. He was then taken to the Fulton County jail, where he remained Thursday evening.
The investigation is ongoing.
Muhammad is the latest Atlanta police officer to face criminal charges in recent weeks. Last month, the department announced that Garrett Rolfe, the officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks outside a Wendy’s, was charged with one count of simple battery following an investigation into a fight outside a Midtown bar.
In a separate incident, four Atlanta police recruits were dismissed in July following a dispute at an East Point sports bar that led to one of them firing a gun.
In another metro department, a Cobb County police officer was also fired Thursday after finding himself at the center of a child exploitation case investigated by the GBI, officials said. Matthew Clements Abbott faces charges of distributing obscene material, two counts of public indecency and violation of oath by a public officer.
— AJC data specialist Jennifer Peebles contributed to this article.
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