An active Secret Service officer was indicted by a federal jury on Wednesday for allegedly sending explicit messages and photos to a police agent, posing as a 14-year-old girl, the Justice Department said.
Lee Robert Moore, 37, was employed by the U.S. Secret Service-Uniformed Division and was assigned to the White House at the time of his arrest on Nov. 9, 2015. He has remained in custody since that time, according to the Justice Department.
Delaware State Police detectives with the Delaware Child Predator Task Force created a profile on “Meet24” — a social media platform for exchanging images and messages — and posed as a 14-year-old girl. Mr. Moore is accused of engaging in a number of online chat sessions with the supposed girl via the “Meet24” and “Kik” anonymous messaging apps over a two-month period, according to court documents.
“A number of the online chats allegedly between Moore and the supposed female minor were sexual in nature and, on several occasions, Moore allegedly sent pictures of himself, including one depicting his penis,” the Justice Department said in its release.
He faces a federal charge of trying to transfer obscene material to a minor, and state charges of sexual solicitation of a child under 18 and providing obscene material to a minor.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Justice Department.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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