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Army official responsible for communications at Mar-a-Lago arrested for uploading child porn to Russian site
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A military official formerly in charge of all White House communications for the U.S. Army at Mar-a-Lago was sentenced to three years of probation on Friday after he made false statements to a federal agent during a child pornography investigation.
Richard Ciccarella — a non-commissioned officer who told federal agents he was in charge of communications at President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach resort — became a target of an investigation after he uploaded photos of a young girl to a seedy Russian website between 2017 and 2018, according to court documents.
Ciccarella used the username RICH25N to upload suspicious photographs and folders to the website iMGSRC.RU between November 2017 and February 2018, according to court documents.
He posted one photo of the underage girl wearing only underwear and standing next to a Christmas tree. He titled it “dirty comments welcomed.” He uploaded a similar photo of the girl playing a board game.
Ciccarella accessed the website with an email address linked to his work phone, court records state.
The 34-year-old staff sergeant was stationed at Mar-a-Lago between Aug. 2017 and March 2018, according to the Palm Beach Post, which first reported the story. He was “responsible for setup and maintained all of the communications for the President at Mar-a-Lago,” according to a sentencing memo filed by his defense attorney. Previously, he was assigned to the White House switchboard in Washington, D.C., and was “responsible for making and placing calls for the President, Vice President and senior White House Staff,” the memo states. He also traveled with the president and vice president to maintain their communications.
Ciccarella’s use of a Russian website to upload sensitive images while overseeing official communications at Trump’s resort raised concerns among security experts. It marked the latest security breach at or involving Mar-a-Lago.
[link to www.miamiherald.com (secure)]
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