updated 5:04 PM EDT, Tue May 15, 2012
Donald Sachtleben was
taken into custody and charged Monday after a nationwide undercover
investigation of illegal child porn images traded over the Internet.
The 54-year-old resident of Carmel, Indiana, has pleaded not guilty and has a detention hearing in federal court Wednesday.
A federal complaint
alleges 30 graphic images and video were found on Sachtleben's laptop
computer late last week when FBI agents searched his home, about 23
miles north of Indianapolis.
The arrest was a result a months-long probe, said the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, Joseph Hogsett.
Sachtleben is currently
an Oklahoma State University visiting professor, according to his online
resume. He is director of training at the school's Center for
Improvised Explosives, but all references to his work have now been
removed from the university's website. There was no indication from the
school as to whether it had suspended him. Calls to the university and
his Indianapolis attorneys were not immediately returned.
He had been an FBI
special agent from 1983 to 2008, serving as a bomb technician. He worked
on the Oklahoma City bombing and Unabomber investigations, according to
his university biography.
A separate LinkedIn
profile filled out by Sachtleben says he is an "accomplished
investigator with more than 25 years of experience in FBI major case
management, counter terrorism investigations, bombing prevention, post
blast investigations and public speaking."
According to the
criminal complaint, a federal-state joint task force had been
investigating an Illinois man allegedly trading child porn images as far
back as September 2010. That suspect was arrested in January, and a
search of his computer reportedly led to Sachtleben, who was using the
e-mail name pedodave69.
According to the
affidavit, an e-mail from that account was sent to the Illinois suspect
last fall, along with nine images of child porn. "Saw your profile on (a
file sharing network). Hope you like these and can send me some of ours
(sic). I have even better ones if you like." Prosecutors say Sachtleben
sent that e-mail.
Sachtleben's wife was
interviewed by agents during the execution of the search warrant and
denied any involvement with child porn. She was not taken into custody.
FBI officials in Washington had no comment on the arrest.
If convicted, Sachtleben
would face up to 20 years in prison on the charge of distribution of
child porn, and an additional 10 years for possession.
The Justice Department's
Project Safe Childhood initiative was launched in 2006, leading to what
federal officials call a more than 40% increase in the number of cases
investigated. The project's website says 2,700 indictments were filed
last year alone.
The case is U.S. v. Sachtleben (1:12-mj-316).
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/15/justice/ex-fbi-agent-pornography/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
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