Home POLITICS Army Officer Assigned to Mar-a-Lago Sentenced for Lying in Child Pornography Case

Army Officer Assigned to Mar-a-Lago Sentenced for Lying in Child Pornography Case

by admin2 admin2
39 views
Army Officer Assigned to Mar-a-Lago Sentenced for Lying in Child Pornography Case

U.S.|Army Officer Assigned to Mar-a-Lago Sentenced for Lying in Child Pornography Case

Staff Sgt. Richard Ciccarella was sentenced on Friday to three years of probation for making a false statement to a federal officer, court documents said.

Image

CreditCreditDoug Mills/The New York Times

A noncommissioned Army officer who was once in charge of White House communications equipment at Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Fla., was sentenced to three years of probation on Friday for lying to a federal officer during a child pornography investigation, court documents show.

According to an initial charging document, the officer, Staff Sgt. Richard Ciccarella, told a Department of Homeland Security special agent in March 2018 that an email address belonging to him was not his. He was charged with one count of making a false statement to a federal officer, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

The authorities began investigating Sergeant Ciccarella after he uploaded photos of an underage girl to a Russian website from November 2017 to February 2018, court documents said.

Under the user name RICH25N, Sergeant Ciccarella uploaded several photographs of the girl, including one that he titled “dirty comments welcomed” in which she was wearing only underwear and standing next to a Christmas tree, and another of her playing a board game, documents said.

Sergeant Ciccarella also commented on photos of women and girls posted by other users, according to the documents, which also say he entered the website using an email address associated with his work phone.

Sergeant Ciccarella, who was deployed to Iraq twice, was charged in May and pleaded guilty in July, court documents show.

From October 2012 to July 2017, Sergeant Ciccarella worked for the White House Communications Agency, according to court documents. He was initially assigned to the White House switchboard, where he was responsible for making and placing calls for the president, vice president and senior White House staff members. Sergeant Ciccarella was also selected to be in charge of communications at Mr. Trump’s second residence, at Mar-a-Lago, and from August 2017 to March 2018 was responsible for all the communications equipment there.

Sergeant Ciccarella has been assigned to an Army base in Virginia since March 9, 2018 — the day after he met with the investigators.

Under the special conditions of his probation, Sergeant Ciccarella is to perform 100 hours of community service and undergo a sex offender treatment program, court documents said. He is also not allowed to have unsupervised contact with minors and must submit to periodic unannounced examinations of his computer equipment.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

Michael Salnick, Sergeant Ciccarella’s lawyer, touted his client’s career and record in a statement. “He is moving forward with his life,” Mr. Salnick said. “He apologized to the court and accepted responsibility for a one-time action in an otherwise law-abiding life.”

Mr. Salnick said he was glad the court had recognized Sergeant Ciccarella’s achievements, and said the imposed punishment was fair. He also said the government had found no evidence of any child pornography in its investigation.

“He is a good man loyal to the armed forces who made one mistake and should be judged by his work ethic and 15-year history in the U.S. Army and not this one incident,” he said.

You may also like

Leave a Comment