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Top Aide to GOP Senator Investigated for Child Pornography

Alex Constantine - December 12, 2013

Agents searched the home of Senator Lamar Alexander's chief of staff

CapitalCommentDecember 11, 2013

Senator Lamar Alexander's chief of staff, Ryan Loskarn, is being investigated by law enforcement agents concerning child pornography, Alexander's office announced. Loskarn was placed on leave without pay after authorities showed up at his Hill East home on Wednesday morning.

"I am stunned, surprised and disappointed by what I have learned," Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, said in a news release. According to the Huffington Post, the US Postal Service is the lead agency looking into Loskarn.

Loskarn became Alexander's top aide in October 2011. Before that he worked for Representative Marsha Blackburn, another Tennessee Republican. He was named to Roll Call's "Fabulous 50" congressional staffers noted for their "mastery, influence, spin and access."

Alexander named his legislative director, David Cleary, as his new chief of staff. “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. "Therefore, as of today, I have removed him from the payroll.”

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US News & World Report, December 12, 2013: "Jesse Ryan Loskarn Had 'Hundreds' of Porn Videos of Young Boys, Girls, Police Say":

A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court Thursday says Jesse Ryan Loskarn attempted to hide an external hard drive loaded with "hundreds" of child porn videos when police knocked down his door with a battering ram.

Loskarn, 35, was fired by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., on Wednesday after his arrest. As chief of staff since 2011, Loskarn directed the two-term senator's Washington, D.C., staff.

The criminal complaint charging Loskarn with possession and distribution of child pornography offers graphic descriptions of children being sexually abused by older men in videos the longtime congressional aide possessed and shared.

Loskarn was arrested by U.S. Postal Inspection Service agents at his home in Washington, D.C. According to the complaint, he was first flagged by investigators as part of a joint U.S. Postal Service-Toronto police investigation into a company that produced videos primarily of nude boys.