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U.S. Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation


In Reply, Please Refer to Release No. 219 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, Illinois 60604

 

 

May 31, 2001

FEMA Employee Charged and Arrested

Kathleen L. McChesney, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Janet M. Odeshoo, Acting Regional Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Terry G. Hillard, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, announced today the arrest of BRIAN JOSEPH MURPHY, age 48, of 507 Center, Sandwich, Illinois. MURPHY was arrested late Friday, without incident, by Chicago Police Officers and FBI agents at O'Hare International Airport.

MURPHY was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago on May 22, 2001 with receipt of child pornography. This charge was the result of a joint investigation by the FBI and FEMA which targeted MURPHY, who is a FEMA employee in Chicago. According to the complaint filed against MURPHY, he is alleged to have downloaded numerous child pornographic images on his FEMA computer, since at least November of last year.

MURPHY appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Geraldine Brown and was released on bond pending his next scheduled court appearance.

The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.




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