Latest news with #childpornography
Fox News
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Washington Post editor on leave after DOJ charges him with possessing child pornography
An award-winning editor from The Washington Post has been placed on leave after the Justice Department charged him with child pornography possession. The DOJ announced that 48-year-old Thomas LeGro, The Post's deputy director of video, appeared in court Friday after being arrested Thursday as his home was searched by authorities. "During the execution of the search warrant agents observed what appeared to be fractured pieces of a hard drive in the hallway outside the room where LeGro's work laptop was found," the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington D.C. said in a press release. According to the filing, "several devices" were seized from LeGro's home, including a laptop computer that "contained 11 videos depicting child pornography." The filing also linked LeGro to a prior FBI investigation from 2006 of E-Gold, a digital currency platform used by child pornography websites, alleging LeGro was an E-Gold user. The charges were announced by interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Caroline Burrell and Janani Iyengar. A spokesperson for The Post told Fox News Digital, "The Washington Post understands the severity of these allegations, and the employee has been placed on leave" and declined to comment further. LeGro began working for the Post in 2000 and left in 2006 for a stint at "PBS NewsHour" before returning to the Post in 2013, according to his LinkedIn page. Notably, LeGro was among the Washington Post journalists who earned the paper a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for its investigative reporting of failed Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, several of whom said they were minors at the time. Moore denied the allegations mentioned in The Post's reporting.
Fox News
16 hours ago
- Fox News
Washington Post reporter arrested on child pornography charges after FBI search and is placed on leave
A Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter was arrested and placed on leave after being charged with possessing child pornography on his work laptop. Thomas Pham LeGro, 48, was arrested Thursday and taken into custody after a search of his District of Columbia home. LeGro made his first appearance Friday in U.S. District Court. The charges reportedly stem from an FBI search at his home Thursday, where agents seized several electronic devices. A review of LeGro's work laptop allegedly revealed a folder that contained 11 videos depicting child sexual abuse material, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro. During the execution of a search warrant, authorities said they found what appeared to be fractured pieces of a hard drive in the hallway outside the room where LeGro's work laptop was found. "The Washington Post understands the severity of these allegations, and the employee has been placed on leave," a Washington Post spokesperson told Fox News Digital in an email Friday. The George Mason graduate was part of a team of Post reporters awarded a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Senate candidacy of Roy Moore in 2018. LeGro, who has been with the publication for more than a decade, served as deputy director of video, overseeing a group of video journalists. He also briefly worked for PBS. Pirro thanked FBI Assistant Director in Charge Steven J. Jensen and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department for their ongoing efforts in the investigation. The case, part of the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood initiative, is being investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, according to the release.
Daily Mail
17 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Washington Post journalist Thomas Pham LeGro charged with possession of child pornography
Award-winning journalist Thomas Pham LeGro has been charged with possession of child pornography after a raid of his Washington DC home. LeGro, 48, a video journalist with the Washington Post, appeared in court Friday after agents allegedly found 11 videos 'depicting child sexual abuse material' on a laptop in his home. According to the US Attorney's Office in DC, agents seized a number of devices from LeGro's home on Thursday, including a laptop. It is alleged fractured pieces of a hard drive from another device were also found in the home. According to a report from LeGro's employer, he worked at the Post for 18 years in two stints since 2000 and served as video editor. Prosecutors say sickening materials were found on LeGro's work computer. The FBI said the raid came as a result of a previous investigation in 2005 that linked LeGro to an account on payment company E-Gold, which used by child pornography websites. In 2006 a subpoena to a third-party tech firm also linked LeGro to the account, and two other E-Gold profiles also had the same address and phone number as the first account, the Washington Post reported. LeGro, 48, a video journalist with the Washington outlet, appeared in court Friday after agents allegedly found 11 videos 'depicting child sexual abuse material' on a laptop in his home If convicted, LeGro faces up to 20 years in prison. An FBI affidavit, much of which was reportedly redacted, did not say what resulted from the decades-old investigation into LeGro's alleged E-Gold accounts. The FBI said he was snared when the bureau opened a new investigation last month, when a court approved the tracking of a Verizon account owned by LeGro. In a statement, the Washington Post said that it 'understands the severity of these allegations, and the employee has been placed on leave.' LeGro was promoted to deputy video editor at the outlet in February 2024. He was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for coverage of the unsuccessful Senate candidacy of Roy Moore in Alabama, whose candidacy was derailed by allegations he sexually assaulted two minors. The US Attorney for DC, former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, singled out FBI Assistant Director in Charge Steven J. Jensen and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department in her press release on LeGro's arrest. She said in the release that the investigation that initially targeted LeGro was part of the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood initiative in 2006. 'In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse,' the release said. 'Led by the U.S. Attorney's Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims.'
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
Pottsville man pleads guilty to CSAM charges
POTTSVILLE — A 51-year-old city man pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual abuse material Friday. James J. Wagner, who faced more than 40 felony counts related to Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM), entered a guilty plea on four of those charges in Schuylkill County Court. Wagner and his attorney, Edward M. Olexa of Hazleton, appeared in front of Judge William L. J. Burke for a status conference. Wagner pleaded guilty to a count of criminal use of a communication facility and three counts of child pornography, all third-degree felonies. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine, Burke said. The Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Criminal Intelligence charged Wagner on Sept. 23, 2024. The defendant faced 41 charges in total, including 20 felony counts of disseminating photo/film of child sex acts and 20 of child pornography. The commonwealth opted not to prosecute the remaining charges, per the plea agreement. Wagner has been free on bail since Sept. 26.
Washington Post
19 hours ago
- Washington Post
Washington Post editor charged with possessing child pornography
A video editor for The Washington Post was arrested Thursday on a federal charge of possessing child pornography, according to prosecutors. Thomas P. LeGro, 48, who has worked at The Post for 18 years in two stints since 2000, was held after an initial appearance Friday before a U.S. magistrate judge in D.C., pending a detention hearing next Wednesday.
