Deputy Stephen Thomas Jr. Arrested for Having Child Porn in His Patrol Car

He's an Indian River County Sheriff's Deputy and recently returned from a tour of duty overseas. Now, Stephen Thomas Junior is behind bars.

It was a routine check in Indian River County for people viewing child pornography online. Indian River County Sheriff's Spokesman, Jeff Luther, says, "Unfortunately his name came up."

The name of Deputy Stephen Thomas Junior. Luther says, "We started an investigation on it and at this time we had enough information to place him under arrest."

Investigators say Thomas had 14 videos of children engaging in sex acts on his personal computer. That computer was found in his patrol car. The children range in ages of five to 12 years old. "We do investigations into this all the time to see what is going on out there," says Luther.

Thomas was hired as a deputy in 2005 and served in the Army. We are told he recently returned from a tour of duty overseas. We viewed his personnel file. He's been disciplined three times for minor offenses: turning his patrol camera off during a pursuit and leaving his weapons in his car. All of his recommendations to the department said he was loyal and trustworthy. Luther says, "Anytime you have a brother or sister in law-enforcement get arrested it's a shameful thing, but at the same time it's something we have to do."

Thomas is in jail charged with possession of child porn and currently suspended without pay until the investigation is complete.

Thomas also lists he worked for the Sheriff's "Explorer" program and for a church program called "Royal Rangers" which works with young boys. We tried to contact that group and his current church in Vero Beach, but no one wanted to speak to us about Thomas.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28280252/