Note: This story was last updated at 12:52 p.m.
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander on Wednesday said his chief of staff in Washington, D.C., has been placed on leave as law enforcement agents search the man’s home to investigate child pornography allegations.
“I was just informed by the United States Senate legal counsel’s office that law enforcement agents are conducting a search of the personal residence of Ryan Loskarn, the chief of staff of my Washington, D.C., office, regarding allegations involving child pornography,” Alexander said in a Wednesday morning statement. “I am stunned, surprised, and disappointed by what I have learned. Based on this information, I immediately placed Mr. Loskarn on administrative leave without pay. The office is fully cooperating with the investigation.”
U.S. Postal Inspectors conducted the raid of Loskarn’s home, according to NBC News.
“The Postal Inspectors Service was involved in a law enforcement action in Southeast D.C.,” a spokesman for the agency told NBC News, declining further comment.
Loskarn is a longtime Alexander aide and was named the Tennessee Republican senator’s chief of staff in 2012, according to Politico.
In November 2011, when he was named Alexander’s chief of staff, Roll Call said Loskarn was one of the Senate GOP’s top strategists and aides, and he had been a fixture in the House and Senate for much of the previous decade. Loskarn has worked at the Senate Republican Conference under Alexander and former Sen. Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, and he has also worked for representatives Wally Herger, a California Republican, and Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, as well as the House Rules Committee, Politico and Roll Call reported.
He was Blackburn’s communications director from 2003 to 2007, the Tennessean said.
See this story on Politico for more information. It includes video of Loskarn being removed from his home in handcuffs by federal agents at about 1 p.m. Wednesday and driven away in an unmarked car.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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