Aide to Senator Barbara Boxer Jeffrey P. Rosato Charged in Child Pornography Sting

Jeffrey P. Rosato, a senior aid to California Democratic US Senator Barbara Boxer has been fired from his position and charged with distributing and receiving child pornography. According to the FBI affidavit, an unnamed person distributed more than 600 files containing graphic images and movies of child pornography to an undercover detective who was believed to be a 13-year-old boy.

Jeffrey P. Rosato, an aide to Boxer and a senior policy adviser on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, was arrested last Friday, the same day he was fired from Boxer’s office, and charged with one count each of receipt and distribution of child pornography. He appeared in U.S. District Court in Alexandria on Wednesday and was released on his own recognizance, but he is forbidden to have access to children or computers.

According to an FBI affidavit, an unnamed person “distributed more than 600 files containing graphic images and movies of child pornography to an undercover detective that [the person] believed was a 13-year-old boy” over the course of more than 15 online chats during a three-week period in January. In that person’s computer, the FBI found information suggesting the person had exchanged pornography with Rosato.

Investigators also found pornographic photos and movies of children on Rosato’s laptop computer during a Nov. 4 search of his Alexandria home, according to the affidavit. “Many of the images and videos depict prepubescent boys engaged in sexual acts,” it said.

There seems to be a disturbing trend in the US Senate as last month, a former aide for Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), James Michael McHaney, was caught in a sting sentenced to three years in prison on a federal charge of possession of child pornography.