Bush Administration takes another hit...

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was arrested Tuesday at his Maryland home on charges he used his computer in an attempt to seduce a child and transmitted harmful materials to a minor, according to the Polk County, Florida, Sheriff's Office.

Brian J. Doyle, 55, is charged with seven counts of use of a computer to seduce a child and 16 counts of transmission of harmful material to a minor, according to a sheriff's office statement.

In interviews with police, Doyle confessed and has agreed to waive extradition to Florida, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.

On March 12, according to a police statement, Doyle contacted a Polk County computer crimes detective posing online as a 14-year-old girl "and initiated a sexually explicit conversation with her ... Doyle knew that the 'girl' was 14 years old, and he told her who he was and that he worked for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security."

Judd said that Doyle, in the first conversation, told the detective his position with DHS and "started immediately into pretty vulgar language. He explained in graphic detail the sexual acts he wanted to perform with this 14-year-old."

As the two continued chatting online, police said, Doyle gave her his home and office phone numbers, and the number to his government-issue cell phone. He also had explicit telephone conversations with a detective posing as the girl, authorities said.

In addition, he used the Internet to send "hard-core pornographic movie clips" to her, and also used an America Online instant-messaging service to have explicit online conversations with her.

"The investigation revealed that the phone numbers given to the detective were in fact Doyle's, and that the AOL account was registered to him," police said.

Doyle also sent photos of himself that were not sexually explicit, but said he would send nude photos if the "girl" would buy a Web camera and send him nude photos of herself. In one photo, Judd said, Doyle's DHS security tag is clearly visible.

"Many of the conversations he initiated ... are too extraordinary and graphic for public release," a statement from the sheriff's office said.

"I read the transcripts," Judd said. "I wanted to see if this was just as outrageous as the detectives depicted it ... It shocked all of us who have worked vice, narcotics, organized crime, homicides."

A DHS spokesman said the agency would cooperate in the probe.

"We take these allegations very seriously," Russ Knocke said, "and we will cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation."

Doyle, Judd said, is divorced and has children. Authorities believe he could have held similar conversations online with others, Judd said, because at some points during online chats he would address the detective by the wrong name.

Doyle never attempted to arrange a visit, Judd said, but did mention knowing someone in the region.

Before Doyle was arrested Tuesday night at his home in Silver Spring, Judd said, the detective had told him that she had access to a Web camera and that her mother would be away, so "he was eager to rush home from work."

As he was online, detectives from agencies including the U.S. Secret Service and the Montgomery County, Maryland, Police Department knocked on his door and served the arrest warrant, Judd said. They also executed a search warrant for his residence.

"We found his communication still on his computer with our undercover detective," he said. "Had we not been posing as a 14-year-old, Brian Doyle would have been grooming someone, some young lady, for a sexual encounter."

Brian J. Doyle (born April 7, 1950) is the deputy press secretary for the United States Department of Homeland Security. He is the fourth highest ranking official in the department's public affairs office.

Doyle began his career as a spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration and has been with the Department of Homeland Security since its creation in 2002.

On April 4, 2006, Doyle was arrested at his Silver Spring, Maryland home on 23 charges related to the use of a computer to seduce a child and transmitting harmful materials to a minor. Polk County, Florida investigators say that the incident began March 12, 2006; Doyle initiated contact with an undercover detective who was posing as a 14-year-old girl, and allegedly began engaging in sexually explicit conversation, and sending "hard core" pornographic movie clips to her over the internet. Authorities say he sent pictures of himself, but that they were not sexually explicit.

During discussions between Doyle and an undercover deputy who he believed to be the teenage girl, Doyle revealed that he worked for the Department of Homeland Security and gave the her his office phone number and his government-issued cell phone number[1].

Doyle has confessed to police and agreed to waive extradition to Florida.