NASHUA, N.H. (AP) – A judge on Tuesday dismissed charges against a former Cape Cod police officer who was accused of soliciting oral sex from a minor over the Internet.

Michael N. Caico, who resigned from Sandwich Police department in February, won his motion to dismiss the case.

Judge Bernard Hampsey granted the motion Tuesday morning in Hillsborough County Superior Court moments before trial was scheduled to start.

Prosecutors said Caico, 43, sent messages from his police-issued laptop computer to a Hollis, N.H., police officer who was posing online as a 14-year-old girl, in February and March of 2004.

The judge called Caico’s messages “neutral chatter” and “idle chatter” that didn’t explicitly say he wanted sex.

District Attorney Marguerite Wageling said she will appeal the ruling.

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Information from: Cape Cod Times, http://www.capecodonline.com

AP-ES-11-22-05 1719EST