L.A. County Public Works spokesman arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography
A 62-year-old employee of the Los Angeles County Public Works Department was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of possession of child pornography, according to authorities.
Steven Frasher, a Redlands resident, was arrested by detectives from the San Bernardino Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Specialized Crimes Unit, according to a police news release. He was booked into a local jail and is awaiting a court appearance.
Kerjon Lee, a spokesperson for the L.A. County Public Works Department, confirmed to KTLA-TV Channel 5 that Frasher worked for the department as a public information officer.
The detectives got a cyber tip indicating that Frasher was downloading illicit child porn on the internet and saving it in an internet storage account, police said.
California lawmakers on Wednesday passed a bill aimed at combating child sexual abuse material on social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok.
They served a search warrant on Frasher’s residence in Redlands and found he was found in possession of child sexual abuse material, according authorities. The investigation is going and authorities will be conducting a forensic examination of the electronic devices.
Frasher was released Tuesday night on bail, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department records.
Frasher was a candidate for Redlands City Council District 4 in 2020 and previously worked for the city of Riverside’s mayor’s office on completion counts, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also served as a public information officer for the Glendale Unified School District.
The San Bernardino Police Department posted a video on its Instagram account of Frasher’s arrest, showing officers going into and searching his home. The video also shows Frasher being led away in handcuffs.
A 38-year-old priest who worked in Long Beach and Oxnard was arrested this week on suspicion of possessing hundreds of images and videos depicting child sexual abuse.
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