Colorado Springs police officer Joshua Carrier will have to do without a paycheck from the Police Department while he faces charges that he sexually exploited children.
Carrier was suspended without pay at 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to a statement issued by the department. For the past two weeks, he had been on paid administrative leave.
Police had been waiting until charges were formally filed against Carrier before suspending him without pay, as required by the city's civil service rules.
On Tuesday, prosecutors with the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office charged Carrier with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a child, a Class 4 felony. He also faces an additional charge of sexual exploitation of a child, a Class 6 felony.
Rule 8 of the city’s Civil Service Commission code maintains Police Department employees can be suspended without pay for any of a laundry list of offenses, ranging from workplace violence to immoral conduct to "any other reasonable and just cause."
Carrier was arrested May 11 after police were notified by Air Force investigators looking into Internet crimes against children that Carrier may have bought child porn 
A detective found child pornography DVDs in Carrier's bedroom, along with a laptop that had child pornography pictures on it, according to an arrest affidavit.
He was released on $3,000 bail but re-arrested a week later following accusations that he sexually assaulted five children.
The mother of one of the children said Carrier inappropriately touched her son on four separate instances while checking for ringworm and bedbugs at Horace Mann Middle School.
Carrier was well-known at the school, having served as a school resource officer as well as a volunteer wrestling coach. He also spent time as a coach in the Police Athletic League and mentored teenagers and young adults in the CSPD Explorer program.
Prosecutors have yet to file charges against Carrier concerning the allegations made by the five children.
Carrier remained in the El Paso County jail on Wednesday in lieu of $500,000 bond. his next court date is 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
Pete Tomitsch, president of the Colorado Springs Police Protective Association, said the organization has decided not to defend or represent Carrier if he challenges the loss of pay.
"In this case, we are extremely confident that the department has done due diligence in its investigation and we are standing by the department," Tomitsch said.
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