The federal complaint filed Thursday against U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander‘s former chief of staff Ryan Loskarn outlines years of the ousted aide’s child pornography consumption and his brazen attempt to hide it from investigators Wednesday.
The complaint was filed by U.S. Postal Inspector Brian Bone in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In it, Bone said Loskarn’s capture came after the USPS and the Toronto Police Service began an investigation into a movie production company in 2010 that featured films of young nude boys.
That investigation led them to one customer, Jesse Ryan Loskarn, with a Washington address. Invoices showed that Loskarn had made several purchases from the company between November 2010 and March 2011.
In 2013, law enforcement officials matched files identified on Loskarn’s home IP address to those on a peer-to-peer network offering child porn. One file matched to Loskarn’s computer showed young girls being raped, the complaint said.
Law enforcement officials “utilized the ram to force entry” on Loskarn’s home Monday after they knocked to execute their search warrant but got no response. While officers rammed the front door, an officer stationed on the perimeter of the scene watched Loskarn lean out a window and place an object on his roof. Once inside, officers went to the location and discovered he had placed a portable hard drive there, the complaint said.
“There was snow on the ledge and roof where the drive was found due to the snow storm the day before,” the complaint said. “This device was free of snow.”
Computer forensic examiners from the U. S Department of Justice reviewed the hard drive and found child porn videos.
Loskarn was arrested Wednesday. Alexander responded to the initial search of Loskarn’s home that morning by placing him on unpaid administrative leave. Later that day, the Tennessee Republican had “removed (Loskarn) from the payroll” and named David Cleary, another top aide, to the chief of staff post.
“The courts will judge Mr. Loskarn’s guilt or innocence, but under these circumstances, he cannot continue to fulfill his duties as chief of staff of this office,” Alexander said in a statement.
Loskarn will be held until his detention hearing on Monday.
