Oh. My. God.

[lagilman]

off the AP wire:

MIAMI - The deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was arrested Tuesday for using the Internet to seduce what he thought was a teenage girl, authorities said. Brian J. Doyle, 55, was arrested at his residence in Maryland on charges of use of a computer to seduce a child and transmission of harmful material to a minor. The charges were issued out of Polk County, Fla.

Doyle, of Silver Spring, Md., had a sexually explicit conversation with what he believed was a 14-year-old girl whose profile he saw on the Internet on March 14, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

The girl was an undercover Polk County Sheriff's Computer Crimes detective, the sheriff's office said.

Doyle sent the girl pornographic movie clips and had sexually explicit conversations via the Internet, the statement said.

During other online conversations, Doyle revealed his name, that he worked for the Homeland Security Department and offered his office and government issued cell phone numbers, the sheriff's office said.

Doyle also sent photos of himself to the girl, but authorities said they were not sexually explicit.

On several occasions, Doyle instructed her to erform a sexual act while thinking of him and described explicit activities he wanted to have with her, investigators said.

Doyle later had a telephone conversation with an undercover deputy posing as the teenager and encouraged her to purchase a web camera to send graphic images of herself to him, the sheriff's office said.

He was booked into Maryland's Montgomery County jail where he was waiting to be extradited to Florida, the sheriff's office said.

There was no immediate response to messages left on Doyle's government-issued cell phone and his e-mail, and he could not be reached by phone at the jail for comment.

Homeland Security press secretary Russ Knocke in Washington said he could not comment on the details of the investigation. "We take these allegations very seriously, and we will cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation," Knocke said.

Doyle, who is the fourth-ranking official in the department's public affairs office, was expected to be placed on administrative leave Wednesday morning.

Comments

[patchwork-prose.livejournal.com]

I will be holding him in the Light. OMG! His poor mother. ::shakes head disbelievingly::

[lagilman]

You hold him. I'll swing the bat.

(not being flippant -- this is the one crime I have no tolerance for, no forgivness for, and no understanding of anyone who tries to 'explain' their actions away. Yes, you're sick. That's the reason, not an excuse. YOU DON'T ENDANGER CHILDREN. End of story.)

[patchwork-prose.livejournal.com]

There was a sexual preditor living next door to us while I was growing up. No sympathy whatsoever for him, having witnessed the long-term effects.

[blazedglory.livejournal.com]

Amen to that. I want the next swing.

[arouraleona.livejournal.com]

Good googly, seriously, you'd think... oh wait, no, I wouldn't expect any better of a 55 year old man in a semi-powerful government position... too bad for that.

And I wouldn't mind a chance at that bat, if no one minds... ::grumbles about disgusting perverts who deserve the worst tortures which can be devised by close family members of the victim::

[delkytlar.livejournal.com]

Let's just be glad that in this case, there was no victim, just an adult cop on receiving end.

[lagilman]

Yeah. But you wonder how many there had been before this. And why a basic background check (which one assumes was done before he was allowed to take this post?) didn't turn anything up...

I love the fact that they've put him on 'adminstrative leave.' In other words, he's still collecting his lovely governmet paycheck, and adding time onto his pension, etc. I hope he's solidly shunned by everyone he comes into contact with.

(yes, I know, innocent until proven guilty. But he was caught red-modemed, as it were, in a fair sting, and that's about as much proof as you're ever going to get. And, above and beyond all this, OMG the blackmail opportunities he let himself open to! Who watches the watchers, hmmm?)

[jmward14.livejournal.com]

But if he's convicted, he will lose all of that as well as freedom. It wasn't always the case for federal employees, including the military.
As late as the mid-1990s, military personnel serving time in military prisons continued to collect all pay and benefits while waiting for decisions on their appeals--including pedophiles. Fixing that--putting pay and benefits in a special account pending a final determination of the case (and keeping it from the perp if the appeal failed)--was one of Barbara Boxer's first legislative acts.
I was lucky enough to play a small role in the process as, ironically enough, the public affairs officer for the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. One of my responsibilities was to determine the validity of Freedom of Information Act requests. A reporter came in requesting the pay records of various felons in Fort Leavenworth. He explained that he wanted to know why somebody who drove a truck through a PX window was doing hard time with no pay or benefits, while convicted pedophiles were still receiving them.
I pushed the agency to provide the info just to prove him wrong. The accountants fought until the finally started pulling the numbers. They were stupefied, then horrified, then stayed in the office all weekend long so they could put the info together to get the story out. The accountants were parents themselves, and their reactions were the same as yours: No hurting kids, ever.
The articles made it to Boxer's desk, and the rest, if not history, was at least productive legislation. A textbook illustration of how the press, the executive and the legislative branch are supposed to work.
Fingers crossed that some good will come out of this particular train wreck--and I do NOT mean for the sleeze who thought he was soliciting a 14-year-old girl.
Cheers,

[delkytlar.livejournal.com]

(yes, I know, innocent until proven guilty. But he was caught red-modemed, as it were, in a fair sting, and that's about as much proof as you're ever going to get. And, above and beyond all this, OMG the blackmail opportunities he let himself open to! Who watches the watchers, hmmm?)

While I'm pretty much onboard as far as this particular fellow being guilty, I don't accept electronic evidence as absolute, red-handed proof in all cases. Bad things happen to good people due to so-called electronic proof these days. I'm sure the cops have everything they need to lock this guy up for a good, long time, but I will always hold a modicum of reasonable doubt when it comes to electronic evidence.

[otherdeb.livejournal.com]

I;ll bring my own bat, and a few spares for the overflow, if only someone will let me at him.

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

Ugh.
Yeah.
Burn that mother-effer.

Thanks to Megan's law you can search online and find registered sex offenders in your neighborhood. Sad thing is--- we had to create an act like this in the first place.

Burn Doyle, burn.

[barbara-ferrenz.livejournal.com]

What he's probably saying right now: "But this was the first time! I've never done anything like this before. It must have been... (pick one: the medication, the stress of my job, my mother didn't breastfeed me, etc.) I need treatment.

I work with kids. Over 25 years, I've turned in dozens of child molesters and saw the emotional, mental, and spiritual devastation they left behind. I've worked with kids who were molested and went on to molest other kids.

I hope they lock him up and throw away the key.