Thomas Pham LeGro made his first appearance on Friday in U.S. District Court for allegedly possessing child pornography.
LeGro, a journalist at The Washington Post and resident of the District of Columbia, was arrested on Thursday and taken into custody following a search of his home. LeGro was part of the Washington Post team that won a 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for scrutinizing former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore's private life.
Acting U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced the charges. Pirro thanked FBI assistant director in charge Steven Jensen and chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department for their ongoing efforts in this investigation.
FBI agents executed a search warrant at LeGro's residence on Thursday and seized several electronic devices. A review of LeGro's work laptop revealed a folder that contained 11 videos depicting child sexual abuse material.
During the execution of the search warrant, agents observed what appeared to be fractured pieces of a hard drive in the hallway outside the room where LeGro's work laptop was found.
This case is being investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, which is composed of FBI agents, along with other federal agents and detectives from northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. The task force is charged with investigating and bringing federal charges against individuals engaged in the exploitation of children and those engaged in human trafficking.
This matter is being prosecuted by assistant U.S. Attorneys Caroline Burrell and Janani Iyengar for the District of Columbia.
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