WASHINGTON, DC – Brian Doyle, deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has been placed on administrative leave and had his security clearance suspended after being arrested on 23 charges stemming from allegedly using the internet to seduce a 14 year-old Florida girl.Doyle was arrested Tuesday night and accused of propositioning an undercover law enforcement agent who was posing as a teenage girl as part of an internet-based sex sting.
The DHS is one of several federal agencies responsible for investigating child pornography and online exploitation of children, by way of subordinate agencies like Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Secret Service. Officials for the DHS said that those agencies are not involved in this case, and that the investigation originated in the Sheriff’s Office of Polk County, Florida.
“The department is cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation,” said DHS press secretary Russ Knocke, who is Doyle’s supervisor. “We take these allegations very seriously.” Knocke added that Doyle has been placed on “a non-pay status and his security clearance, employee badge and facility access permissions have been suspended.”
According to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, Doyle was arrested at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland, and was actually online with undercover detectives when authorities arrived at his home.
A statement issued by the Polk County sheriff’s office alleges that Doyle contacted a 14-year-old girl whose profile was posted on the web, and initiated a “sexually explicit conversation” with the girl. The “girl” in question was actually an undercover Polk County detective.
The statement also said that Doyle gave his office phone number and his government-issued cell phone number to the undercover investigator. Doyle also is accused of using the internet to send pornographic movie clips and have explicit sexual conversations in online chats with the “girl.”
