A high-ranking Glendale police officer was arrested in connection with a sex crimes investigation in North Carolina involving a 15-year-old girl, according to court records.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety confirmed that Cmdr. Jay O'Neill was taken into custody on Sept. 17 in connection with an out-of-state investigation, according to agency spokesperson Warren Trant. Glendale police assisted in the arrest, Trant said. O'Neill was arrested at State Farm Stadium at 10:24 a.m., court records showed.
O'Neill was indicted on five counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor in North Carolina, court records showed. He is accused of knowingly receiving digital photographs and videos depicting a 15-year-old girl engaging in sexual activity, the North Carolina county indictment stated.
The indictment was filed in a North Carolina county on Sept. 14, the records indicated. The filing stated O’Neill committed the offense on Dec. 10.
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He was scheduled for a hearing in North Carolina on Nov. 11, a court record showed. However, O’Neill plans to fight his extradition order.
During a Sept. 17 court appearance in Maricopa County, he asked Judge Cindi Nannetti for an extradition hearing, which she scheduled for Sept. 28.
Former Glendale police official Jay O'Neill made his initial appearance Friday in Maricopa County Superior Court. O'Neill faces extradition to North Carolina in connection with an out-of-state sex crime investigation.
The extradition hearing will begin the process of transporting O’Neill out-of-state.
That will require both Gov. Katie Hobbs and North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein to review the paperwork and sign an extradition order, which can take up to 90 days, Nannetti explained.
Nannetti also ordered O'Neill held on a $75,000 cash bond in Maricopa County.
Glendale police spokesperson Jose Santiago confirmed that O'Neill was no longer employed by the city of Glendale or the Police Department, and he was the subject of a criminal investigation by another law enforcement agency.
Santiago said no further comments would be made.
O'Neill's LinkedIn account said he started with Glendale police as an officer in October 2005, rising in the ranks to sergeant and lieutenant before becoming commander in February 2020. He was previously a police officer for seven years in Oceanside, California, according to his LinkedIn.
O'Neill served in the U.S. Marine Corps between 1991 and 1995, according to a Glendale Police Department Facebook post.
