Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post journalist is arrested for possession of child pornography
During the raid executed by FBI agents at LeGro's residence, several electronic devices were seized. A review of his laptop revealed a folder containing 11 videos containing child sexual abuse material.
A person viewing a phone with censored content.
Thomas Pham LeGro, a 48-year-old award-winning journalist working for the Washington Post, was arrested Thursday and charged with possession of child pornography, according to an official release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.
LeGro made his first appearance before the U.S. District Court today, Friday, following a search of his home in the District of Columbia.
For her part, federal prosecutor Jeanine Ferris Pirro announced the charges and expressed her thanks to Deputy Director in charge of the FBI Steven J. Jensen and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department for their work in the investigation.
The raid on LeGro's
home.
During the raid executed by agents of the FBI at LeGro's residence, several electronic devices were seized. A review of his laptop computer revealed a folder containing 11 videos with child sexual abuse material.
In addition, agents found fractured fragments of a hard drive in the hallway outside the room where LeGro's work laptop was located.
The investigation.
The investigation is being conducted by the Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force of the FBI's Washington Field Office, which includes FBI agents, other federal agents, and detectives from northern Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Assistant federal prosecutors Caroline Burrell and Janani Iyengar are prosecuting the case for the District of Columbia.
This case is part of the Department of Justice (DOJ)'s initiative Project Safe Childhood, launched in 2006 to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.
The initiative, led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices, pools federal, state, and local resources to locate, arrest, and prosecute those who exploit children over the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
The Washington Post says the employee was placed on leave.
Further, according to Hsu, the media outlet “understands the severity of these allegations, and the employee has been placed on leave.”
The outlet also reported that the accused “was part of a Post team that won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 2018 for coverage of the Senate candidacy of Roy Moore of Alabama.”
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