Military Officer Stationed At Mar-A-Lago Sentenced In Child Porn Investigation
PALM BEACH (CBSMiami/CNN) - A military officer previously in charge of the U.S. Army's White House communications at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort has been sentenced to six months probation in connection with a child pornography investigation.
Last July, Staff Sergeant Richard Ciccarella pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about his part in posting photos of a nearly naked underage girl on a Russian website. The posts were made while he was working at the resort.
Ciccarella uploaded photos of a female relative to a Russian website under the username RICH25N and also saved images in other folders accessible online, according to court documents.
In one of his folders, Ciccarella posted a photograph of a young relative wearing only underwear and standing next to a Christmas tree, with the comment: "Dirty comment's welcome," according to the documents.
While the photos didn't constitute child pornography, his lies were troubling, Assistant US Attorney Gregory Schiller said, according to the newspaper.
When asked by federal agents, Ciccarella denied ever using the Yahoo email that was connected to that username.
He admitted to posting photos of the girl online but said people began posting comments on the pictures of which he did not approve, the documents state.
Authorities tracked down the username's IP address to Ciccarella's home.
A previous iPhone that agents seized from the residence showed a history of visiting the Russian website and Ciccarella admitted to agents that he lied about the email address because he was scared, according to court documents.
Prosecutors say the photos themselves did not constitute child porn. However, Ciccarella's attempts to impede the investigation were a federal crime.
As part of his probation, a federal judge ruled Ciccarella not be allowed unsupervised personal, mail, telephone or computer contact with children under 18, including the alleged victim, and that he participates in a sex offender treatment program.
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