If this is true - lock him up & throw away the key.
Porn Sting Nabs Federal Official
By ANTHONY McCARTNEY amccartney@tampatrib.com
TBO.com
Published: Apr 5, 2006
LAKELAND - When he wasn't sending pornographic movies to and asking for explicit photos from a teenage girl in Polk County, a Maryland man was bragging about his job as a spokesman at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, law enforcement officers said.
The revelation - actually made to a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl - resulted in the arrest of 55-year-old Brian J. Doyle at his Silver Spring, Md., home Tuesday night, officials said.
During his Internet chats, Doyle quickly revealed his name and job, and he sent his office and government-issued cell phone numbers. The information allowed detectives to quickly verify Doyle's identity, the Polk County Sheriff's Office announced Tuesday night.
Doyle moved quickly in other regards, officials said, sending enough sexually explicit messages and movie clips that they were able to secure a warrant for his arrest on 23 felony counts roughly two weeks after he responded to the detective's profile.
Doyle has a first appearance hearing today at 1:00 p.m. in Montgomery County, Md., the Polk County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday morning.
The charges stem from Doyle repeatedly requesting the girl he was pursuing to purchase a Web camera so that she could send explicit images to Doyle, sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Rodgers said. Doyle promised to reciprocate, she said.
He also sent numerous pornographic movie clips to the girl and used America Online's Instant Messenger program to carry on sexually laced conversations, a news release stated.
Maryland officials arrested Doyle at his home and seized his computer. It was unclear Tuesday whether Doyle used his office computer to carry out any of the conversations. He remains jailed awaiting extradition to Florida, Rodgers said.
"We take these allegations very seriously and will cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation," Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said.
Doyle, a deputy press secretary, has been at the department since it was created in 2002. He started as a spokesman at the Transportation Safety Administration.
The charges against Doyle are the second involving a Homeland Security official and alleged improper sexual conduct toward a minor in Central Florida in the past six months.
In October, Tampa's newly appointed Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent in charge, Frank Figueroa, was arrested in an Orlando shopping mall, accused of exposing himself to a teenage girl.
Figueroa is scheduled to appear in court this morning to enter a guilty plea in that case.
Doyle's case began March 12 when he responded to the Internet profile of a 14-year-old girl who was in fact a Polk County sheriff's computer crimes detective, officials said.
He sent the detective non-descript pictures of himself, which were used to prove Doyle's identity and job.
By March 27, the detective presented the conversations and movie clips to a judge, who deemed them "harmful to minors." The next day, prosecutors filed seven counts of use of a computer to seduce a child and 16 counts of transmission of harmful material to a minor.
Sheriff Grady Judd in a statement said his agency will go after sex offenders no matter where they live, and he did not hide his disdain for Doyle.
"There is no question that Doyle believed he was having these disgusting, obscene discussions ... with a young girl. His conduct is vile and inexcusable."
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