A California deputy attorney general and son of an infamous Watergate burglar, Raymond Liddy was arrested Tuesday and charged with possession of child pornography. According to court records, Liddy allegedly used his home computer to access numerous photographs that appear to depict minors under the age of 12 engaging in sexual acts.
In January, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip from an electronic service provider after a user uploaded an image that appeared to exhibit child pornography. About one month later, the organization received another tip from a second electronic service provider reporting that a user had uploaded 10 similar images depicting child porn sent through a messaging program.
After the organization forwarded the tips to the San Diego Internet Crimes Against Children task force, investigators traced the user’s accounts to Califonia Deputy Attorney General Raymond Liddy. On Tuesday, Liddy admitted to using the screen name and email addresses linked to the user who uploaded the images of child porn while two FBI agents and a task force officer questioned him at his home on Coronado Island in San Diego.
According to the complaint, Liddy told investigators that he had used multiple aliases to share sexual fantasies online while downloading sexually explicit images and possibly forwarding the images to other users. Although Liddy asserted that most of the images portrayed adults engaging in sexual acts, he admitted the possibility remains that some of the images depict children as well.
After obtaining a search warrant for Liddy’s home, investigators discovered numerous images on a computer and thumbdrive depicting minors engaging in sexual conduct, including a nude girl bound and blindfolded. Placed under arrest on Tuesday, Liddy was charged with possession of child pornography.
On Wednesday, Liddy pleaded not guilty and was placed under monitored house arrest during his arraignment. The State Attorney General’s Office released a statement acknowledging the arrest and announcing that Liddy had been placed on administrative leave.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Liddy served as a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves and retired from the military last year. Since 2008, Liddy has served as a state prosecutor representing California.
During the Nixon administration in 1973, his notorious father, G. Gordon Liddy, was convicted of burglary, conspiracy, and illegally wiretapping the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters at the Watergate Hotel. Sentenced to 20 years in prison, G. Gordon Liddy later received a commuted sentence from President Jimmy Carter and served less than five years in prison.
Currently placed on home detention with GPS monitoring, the deputy attorney general is scheduled to return to court for a preliminary hearing on August 8.
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