FBI busts sheriff’s deputy Goossens for child porn
August 19, 2008
By DANIEL BLACKBURN and KAREN VELIE
San Luis Obispo County Deputy Sheriff Bryan Goossens was arrested Monday by federal agents as part of a widespread roundup of suspected members of a child pornography ring. Two other county men also have been named and face charges.
Officials said the suspects used the Internet to trade photographs.
Goossens, who caused a five-car accident in Atascadero in July, was one of more than 50 people in southern and central California whose arrests or indictments are being announced later this morning by a multi-agency task force in Los Angeles. (Additional details will be posted on this site later this morning.)
A federal agent said today that a like-minded group which included San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Deputy Bryan Goossens and 51 others shared “very disturbing and graphic” images of children depicting bestiality and bondage.
Calling the evidence “horrific,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jorge Guzman told CalCoastNews.com that 26 children, aged 2 to 17, have been removed from “dangerous environments” by appropriate family and child services officials.
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said Jeremy Neubauer, 29, of Nipomo, a part-time postal employee, also was arrested Monday. The identity of the third person was not immediately available.
A 20-year employee of the sheriff’s department, Goossens was taken into custody and transported to Los Angeles for booking in a federal detention facility. It was unclear if he had yet posted bail Tuesday morning. Goossens has been on paid administrative leave since July 11. FBI agents seized a computer and other items recently from Goossens’ home.
Following the July 19 vehicle incident in which Goossens’ pickup truck sideswiped and totaled four parked cars before rolling over twice, Atascadero police investigators routed their report through other-than-normal channels. As a result, the spectacular 9:15 a.m. collision nearly escaped public attention. Police did not cite the suspended deputy. No media in San Luis Obispo County reported on the accident except CalCoastNews.com.
Goossens was hired in 1988 and had been assigned to patrol duty at the sheriff’s Templeton office. He spent three years working as a corrections officer before becoming a deputy in 1991.
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