Former HHS Cybersecurity Exec Convicted of Child Porn

Former acting Department of Health and Human Services cybersecurity director Timothy DeFoggi has been convicted of online child pornography, according to the Justice Department.

DOJ said he was the sixth individual convicted as part of an investigation into three child pornography websites.

A federal jury in Nebraska found DeFoggi, formerly of Germantown, Md., guilty of "engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiracy to advertise and distribute child pornography, and accessing a computer with intent to view child pornography in connection with his membership in a child pornography website."

According to evidence at the trial, DeFoggi not only accessed child pornography and solicited it from other members of a child porn site, but sent messages "where he expressed an interest in the violent rape and murder of children," said DOJ.

The trial before U.S. Chief District Judge Laurie Smith Camp lasted four days. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 7, 2014.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.