Fergie's Tech Blog

DHS Official Makes Plea Deal in Online Sex Sting

Vic Walter and Krista Kjellman report on ABC News' "The Blotter":

Brian Doyle, the Deputy Press Secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, agreed to a plea deal this morning after being charged with sexually seducing a minor over the internet.

Doyle was arrested last April after allegedly having sexually explicit conversations with whom he thought was a 14-year-old girl but was actually an undercover Polk County, Fla., sheriff's detective posing as a teenage girl.

According to the plea deal, Doyle pled "nolo contendere," or no contest, to seven counts of using a computer to seduce a child and 16 counts of transmitting harmful material to a minor, which together would have delivered a maximum prison sentence of 115 years.

Now Doyle faces a maximum of five years in prison and 10 years of probation. He will have to register as a sex offender once he is released. He has also agreed to pay all fines, mandatory and discretionary, as a condition of the agreement.

posted by Fergie @ 9/19/2006 02:01:00 PM