WWW- A U.S. Homeland Security official has been charged with using a computer to seduce a child after he allegedly had online sexual conversations with an undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old girl.
Brian J. Doyle, 55, deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), also faces a charge of transmission of harmful material to a minor.
He was arrested Tuesday night at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland, as he was online with the 'girl.'
Polk County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Carrie Rodgers told reporters that the undercover detective had called Doyle and told him she had a Web camera, as he had asked her to do.
"He said he would get on the computer when he got home from work so we knew he would be on," Rodgers said.
"When (police) went to his door, he was on the computer in the middle of a conversation with the girl."
Doyle was expected to appear in court Wednesday afternoon in Maryland and also to be placed on administrative leave.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan called the allegations "very serious."
"I know that the Department of Homeland Security have said they will cooperate fully in the investigation," McClellan told the Associated Press Wednesday.
"These are very serious allegations."
AP reported that Homeland Security press secretary Russ Knocke would not comment on the details of the investigation.
"We take these allegations very seriously, and we will cooperate fully with this ongoing investigation," Knocke told AP.
After finding the 'teenager's' profile online, Doyle began having sexually explicit conversations with her on the Internet on March 14, the sheriff's office said in a statement.
He sent her pornographic movie clips, as well as non-sexual photos of himself, officials said.
One of the photos, released by the sheriff's office, shows Doyle in what appears to be DHS headquarters.
During online conversations, Doyle revealed his name and who he worked for.
He also gave out his office and government-issued cell phone numbers, the sheriff's office said.
On several occasions, Doyle instructed her to perform a sexual act while thinking of him and described explicit activities he wanted to have with her, investigators said.
Doyle was being held in the Montgomery County Detention Center.
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, AP reported.
