Officer waives right to hearing in solicitation case

A Philadelphia police officer accused of soliciting an undercover officer he thought was a teenage boy waived his preliminary hearing in Family Court yesterday.

Adrian Makuch, 49, is charged with making unlawful contact with a minor, luring a child into a motor vehicle, and corrupting minors for approaching young men and asking them to pose naked for photographs. A 21-year veteran of the force, Makuch was charged Dec. 9 after a yearlong investigation. The probe began after a 15-year-old Northeast Philadelphia boy told police that a man had approached him and offered money to take naked photographs, police said.

An undercover officer was placed in the area, and Makuch was arrested after he allegedly offered the officer money to take nude photographs of him and then solicited him for sex. - Vernon Clark