A 27-year-old man met a 15-year-old girl on a social-media website where people supposedly go to “meet new people, chat, flirt and match.” On Jan. 9, he and the teenager arranged to meet in his car at a parking lot at the Quarterfield Crossing Apartments on Old Stage Road in Glen Burnie, Md.

Once they were in the back seat, he gave her $80 in return for sexual activity. After it was over, she attempted to leave the vehicle, but found the doors locked. He produced a handgun, pointed it at her and demanded his money back.

She complied, and he, after taking the money, let her get out of the car.

That’s ugly enough. But what’s even uglier?

At the time of the incident, the alleged gun-toting robber and sexual predator was a D.C. police officer, Chukwuemeka Ekwonna.

And he remained a cop until he was fired last week. Ekwonna was arrested April 6 at his home in Glenn Dale, Md. According to court documents, Ekwonna was charged with armed robbery, the use of a firearm in the commission of a crime, assault of a juvenile female and the commission of a sexual offense in the third degree upon a juvenile female. He is being detained in Anne Arundel County, where he awaits trial.

Ekwonna sought to be released, but as the Capital Gazette in Annapolis reported, District Court Judge Eileen A. Reilly denied bail, saying the charges against the officer were “incredibly disturbing, to say the least” and that he could pose a “danger to the community.”

Which raises the question: What danger, if any, did Ekwonna pose to the District of Columbia while serving as a cop for the past 14 months?

Consider his service with the D.C. Department of Corrections prior to joining the police force.

Dwayne Anthony Nowlin alleged that while he was in Corrections Department custody in August 2013, he was the victim of an unlawful assault and battery by Sgt. Harrison Ekwonna, Officer Chukwuemeka Ekwonna and a number of unknown corrections officers. Sgt. Ekwonna is Chukwuemeka Ekwonna’s father.

Nowlin said the officers took him to the ground where he was kicked, punched and beaten. Nowlin, through his attorney, sought $250,000 for his injuries, lost wages, medical costs and attorney’s fees.

The office of Attorney General Karl Racine agreed on March 6, 2017, to pay Nowlin and his lawyer $20,000 to settle the case.

This incident is significant because the lawsuit against Chukwuemeka Ekwonna was pending in court when he applied to join and was accepted by the D.C. Police.

Asked about the circumstances under which Ekwonna was hired, acting D.C. police chief Peter Newsham said the matter is being reviewed. The lawsuit “should have been considered. I don’t know if it was or wasn’t, but we will look into that,” said Newsham, whose nomination for chief is speeding through the D.C. Council.

How could Newsham not know? I sought an interview with him but was told to submit my questions via email, which I did Wednesday. To date, no response.

Newsham should have been sensitive to this case. After all, the D.C. police department has a history of men with badges doing abominable stuff.

The evidence can be found in columns I have written about the police force’s rotten apples since 2013, and in other news reports.

The subjects include:

Police officer Darrell Best, accused of sexually abusing two teenaged girls, allegedly assaulting a 17-year-old at police headquarters and a 16-year-old at his church where he serves as pastor. Best was sentenced to 18 years in prison in February after pleading guilty to sexual abuse charges involving minors.

Officer Wendel Palmer, sentenced to 18 years in prison in July 2014 for repeatedly sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl who sang in the youth choir that he directed.

Officer Linwood Barnhill Jr. in the 7th District, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to forcing underage girls to work as prostitutes out of his Southeast apartment. He’s serving a seven-year prison sentence.

Marc Washington, another 7th District officer, found dead in December 2013 in the Washington Channel from an apparent suicide after he was arrested in a child sex case. He was accused of taking partially nude pictures of a 15-year-old girl, allegedly while wearing his police uniform and saying he was following police procedure.

Kenneth D. Furr, a D.C. police officer convicted in October 2012 for solicitation of prostitutes and assault with a dangerous weapon.

Detective Richmond Phillips, convicted in January 2013 of murdering his girlfriend, leaving her body in the woods, driving off with their 11-month-old daughter in the car, and abandoning the car and the baby in sweltering heat, where she died.

Those officers are a direct threat to public safety.

Newsham joined the department in 1989 and was an assistant chief during all of the above incidents. He needs to account for the department’s hiring practices, standards of conduct and performance oversight, and tell us how things will be different on his watch, if he can — and he must do it before he is confirmed.

He won’t answer my questions. The council, if so inclined, may have better luck, before the final vote.

Read more from Colbert King’s archive.