Munhall Police Chief Patrick Campbell said he was sickened when one of his officers, Michael Curtin, was charged last year with soliciting teenage girls online for sex and offering them money to allow him to suck their toes.

So he said he was disappointed when Mr. Curtin, who was fired by the borough a year ago when allegations arose, received only five years probation under a plea agreement when he was sentenced two weeks ago. The probation terms forbid Mr. Curtin from using computers or texting on his cell phone.

He said earlier this week that he planned to write a letter to the Allegheny County District Attorney's office expressing his disagreement with the way the case was handled.

"With the severity of what the charges were and the fact that he was placed in a position of trust and authority in this town, I think it would be appropriate to see some jail time out of that," he said.

In all, Mr. Curtin pleaded guilty to counts of unlawful contact with a minor, indecent assault, corruption of minors, providing alcohol to minors and solicitation of prostitution, stemming from his online activities and from earlier incidents in which he partied with teenage girls.

"These victims were mostly from our town," Chief Campbell said. "Anybody who targets a child or a juvenile I think should see the inside of a jail cell."

Mike Manko, the spokesman for the Allegheny County District Attorney's office, said the plea agreement was reached so that the case would not be taken to trial, where the young victims would be forced to testify again. All of them were put on the stand during a lengthy preliminary hearing in June.

"Whenever there's a case with child victims, we always approach the victims and their families ... to inquire about how they would like to see the case resolved," he said.

Mr. Manko said all families preferred to see the case not go to trial and favored the plea agreement.

Mr. Manko said Chief Campbell was present for those conversations, which occurred outside of the courtroom before the case was to go to trial, and that Chief Campbell never said he disagreed with the arrangement.

"He heard all of the discussions with the victims' families and the victims and never once said anything or expressed any concern," Mr. Manko said.

Chief Campbell perceived the situation differently. He said the families "were not agreeable to this plea agreement."

He wanted to see the case go to trial so that Mr. Curtin would get a harsher sentence, possibly jail time, if convicted.

He emphasized that he had no interest in "picking a fight with the DA," and only disagreed with the handling of this particular case.