A Department of Homeland Security press secretary was arrested this evening on charges that he was using a computer to seduce a child.
Brian Doyle, 50, was arrested at 7:45 p.m. in his Silver Springs, Maryland home on 23 charges related to the use of a computer to seduce a child and transmitting harmful materials to a minor after a joint investigation by the Polk County Sheriff's office, Florida State Attorney Jerry Hill's office and the Department of Homeland Security.
[...]
Doyle allegedly met someone on the internet he thought was a 14-year-old girl and "initiated a sexually explicit conversation with her," according to a press release issued by the Polk County sheriff's office. "The girl was actually an undercover Polk County Sheriff's computer crimes detective. Doyle knew that the girl was 14 years old, and he told her who he was that that[sic] he worked for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. During future online chats, Doyle gave the undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old girl his office phone number and his government-issued cell phone number."
This arrest comes on the same day that a teen testified before congress about the abuse he suffered at the hands of pedophiles he had met online.
Ironically:
On Wednesday, the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will hear from law enforcement and government lawyers on their efforts to prosecute online predators.
I guess Mr Homeland Security Department press guy, Brian Doyle, won't be holding a briefing for reporters on that hearing.
UPDATE via CNN:
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said that Doyle had confessed to the allegations.
Earlier Wednesday, DHS placed the deputy press secretary on administrative leave without pay and suspended his security clearance, employee badge and facility access permissions.
[...]
Johnson ordered Doyle held without bond at the Montgomery County Detention Center and scheduled a hearing for May 4. Attorneys told reporters, however, it is likely that actions before then will make that hearing unnecessary.
Helfand said his plan is to meet with Doyle "and find out all of the details of this case." At some point, he said, he expects to return to court and ask the judge to release Doyle on minimal bond or his own recognizance, so Doyle can turn himself in to Florida authorities. He "would show up in Florida on his own," Helfand said.
It appears his attorney's plan to use "depression" as part of his defense.
UPDATE: In related news, Frank Figueroa, who was the head of Customs and Immigration in Tampa, "has pleaded no contest to charges he exposed himself to a girl in a mall food court and ran away from security guards."
Figueroa, once one of Florida’s highest-ranking federal law enforcement officers and the former head of a national program formed to target child sex predators, was arrested Oct. 25 at The Mall at Millenia in Orlando.
UPDATE: See also - Brian Doyle and Porn: What Time Magazine Knew
No comments:
Post a Comment