Former IT manager at Supervisor of Elections office arrested on child porn charges

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — A former IT manager at the Supervisor of Elections office is behind bars after law enforcement said he was in possession of child pornography.

Palm Beach County deputies arrested 61-year-old Jeffery Darter on 30 counts of possession of sexual performance by a child and one count of unlawful use of a computer or electronic device.

Darter's arrest came after his case was handed over to the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) from the Department of Homeland Security in June.

According to the affidavit, an unknown person on KIK with the username "hardrivefl" uploaded an image that depicted the sexual abuse of a girl that appears to be approximately four to six years old. KIK is a mobile messaging application.

Investigators traced the IP address of the message to Darter's home in West Palm Beach.

In November, investigators arrived at Darter's workplace at the Supervisor of Elections office and spoke with his supervisor. Darter's supervisor allowed investigators to search Darter's work computer. Investigators found various pornographic videos and images on the computer, including Darter inappropriately touching himself at work. Darter's supervisor told investigators said the IT department has complete administrative access to all employee computers and that Darter has inappropriately used a work computer.

While speaking to investigators, Dater told them he did have a KIK account, but doesn't use it.

He told investigators he had seen child pornography and had friends interested in it, and that one of them even created a website for it, but did not share their information, according to the affidavit.

Darter then became defensive and investigators believe he was deleting images from his phone. When they took his phone away, he became physically aggressive towards deputies and was arrested on two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer.

According to the affidavit, approximately 174 images of child pornography were found on Darter's phone. The graphic images depicted adults sexually abusing children who were infants to six years of age.

Dater is expected to appear back in court on Feb. 13, 2020.