California’s Deputy Attorney General Charged with Child Pornography Possession

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Summary: The deputy attorney general for California has been arrested and charged with the possession of child pornography.

A San Diego federal court charged California’s deputy attorney general with child pornography possession. Raymond Joseph Liddy, 53, was arrested after a search of his Coronado home uncovered files with children engaging in sexual acts. He pleaded not guilty and was granted a release in lieu of $100,000 bond. He has been placed on home arrest with GPS monitoring.

  

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The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received tips from an internet service provider about one of their users uploading child pornography. The first tip came in on January 23. Another tip from a different internet provider sent a tip that a user had uploaded 10 child pornography photos to a messaging program. Court documents claim one image was a “nude prepubescent female sitting on a chair with her legs spread widely apart.”

The NCMEC forwarded the tips to the San Diego Internet Crimes Against Children task force, which traced the tips to a Coronado home using an anonymous online profile that matched Liddy’s age. They determined the owner of the home was Liddy.

Liddy, the son of disbarred lawyer G. Gordon Liddy, has been the deputy attorney general since 2008. His father was convicted in 1974 for coordinating the burglary of the Democrat National Committee’s headquarters during the Watergate scandal.

Liddy claims he created an anonymous screen name in order to share sexual fantasies online as well as download and share pornographic images that were of adults but “may have been of children.” He apparently admitted to federal agents that he may have uploaded pornography to the web that contained children. He told investigators that he would delete the images soon after downloading but may have shared a few before deleting them.

A search warrant of his home revealed stored images of children engaging in sexual acts. There were numerous pictures on a computer and thumb drive that included children. One such image was of a young girl, naked and blindfolded with her hands bound together, according to court documents.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office has indicated that Liddy has been placed on administrative leave. Liddy will return to court on August 8. His work focuses on health care cases involving drug pricing, elder abuse, kickbacks, Medi-Cal fraud, and off-label drug marketing.

He is also a Marine reservist colonel that served in the Iraq war. Liddy earned his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, a master degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania, and an undergraduate degree from Fordham University in history/English. He received his high school diploma from boarding school Mercersburg Academy.

Before joining California’s AG office, Liddy worked in the private practice sector. He was an attorney at San Diego law firm Luce, Forward, which is now known as Dentons LLP, until September 11, 2001, when he was called upon by the Marine Corps infantry battalion to help battle the threats of terrorists. He first started his military service in 1986, retiring just last September.

Liddy’s father was convicted conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping for his role in the scandal. He had been sentenced to 20 years in prison but it was commuted to eight years by President Jimmy Carter. He was able to obtain parole after 4.5 years into his sentence.

Do you think there is any excuse for possessing child pornography? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

To learn more about well-known individuals caught up in child pornography, read these articles:

• State Department Employee Makes Deal in Child Porn Case
• Survivor Contestant Sentenced for Child Pornography
• Former Paul Hastings Lawyer Convicted of Child Pornography

Photo: nydailynews.com