House of Representatives Staffer Faces 10 Charges for Alleged Child Porn Possession

A program manager for the sergeant-at-arms of the U.S. House of Representatives was arrested and faces ten felony charges connected to alleged possession of child pornography.

41-year-old Stefan Bieret, of Burke, Virginia, was arrested by Fairfax Police on October 13, the same day authorities searched his home under a search warrant and recovered multiple electronic devices, the Washington Post reported.

Bieret, who was arraigned on October 14, is being held without bail and is expected to appear in court in November, the Post said.

Police said the investigation started when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) was alerted of a potentially illicit image that was uploaded to the cloud storage service Dropbox, according to the Post. The NCMEC reported the incident to a task force that handles internet crimes against children.

It was then discovered that the owner of the Dropbox account resided in Fairfax County, Virginia, according to the Post. In August, detectives of Fairfax County took over the investigation. A search warrant for the account resulted in the discovery of additional illicit images, and following search warrants enabled authorities to identify the account as Bieret’s, officials said, according to the Post.

According to Fox 5, detectives will consult with the Office of the Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney regarding additional charges as authorities are continuing to analyze the digital evidence.

Bieret’s attorney did not respond to the Washington Post‘s calls seeking comment, the outlet reports.

Under the sergeant-at-arms, Bieret works as a program manager, according to the Post.

He has worked in Congress since 2004 according to records from Legistorm.

The House of Representatives website states, “the Sergeant at Arms is the chief law enforcement and protocol officer of the House of Representatives and is responsible for maintaining order in the House side of the United States Capitol complex.”

“The Sergeant at Arms reviews and implements all issues relating to the safety and security of Members of Congress and the Capitol complex,” the website reads. “The Sergeant at Arms also coordinates extensively with the U.S. Capitol Police and various intelligence agencies to assess threats against Members of Congress and the Capitol complex.”