Drum officer facing charges over child porn

An Army lieutenant colonel who was the 10th Mountain Division's top law enforcement officer at Fort Drum was arrested Friday on a federal indictment for the alleged possession and distribution of child pornography.

Lt. Col. Christopher Butler, 43, who is assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, was released to the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office after being arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge David E. Peebles on a sealed indictment.

Butler, San Antonio, Texas, until recently was provost marshal at Fort Drum, the equivalent of a police chief in civilian life, said Maj. Frederick C. Harrell, deputy public affairs officer.

The U.S. attorney's office at Syracuse announced the arrest, which stems from an investigation dating back to October 2008, when the officer allegedly sent images of child pornography via the Internet to an undercover agent of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The indictment additionally alleges that last February, Butler offered to share over the Internet four video files depicting child pornography.

A search warrant was served at his Fort Drum residence in August. An examination of seized computers reportedly revealed that he possessed and accessed more than 200 images depicting child pornography, including the items previously seen in the undercover investigation, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

He used a screen name "daddyformommies," the announcement said.

Also participating in the investigation were the Army's Criminal Investigation Command and a state police unit assigned to Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide effort to protect children from online exploitation.

The investigation began on Oct. 7, 2008, according to a District Court deposition. Six days earlier, he had been promoted to lieutenant colonel, according to Fort Drum.

According to records released Friday, a Customs special agent logged onto a chat room titled "Parenting Lobby 2" and eventually got involved in a messaging conversation with daddyformommies. During the chat, in which the special agent claimed to be the lesbian mother of an 11-year-old girl, daddyformommies began broadcasting a video of a nude male adult partaking in a lewd act, according to the document.

Then, other pornographic depictions were displayed, the agent alleged.

Leads began developing nine days later about where daddyformommies might be found. The continuing investigation revealed on Dec. 30, 2008, that the user had logged on to an Internet service provided by SkyVision Holding for Camp Liberty in Baghdad.

A Fort Drum spokesman said Friday that Butler had been stationed in Iraq from May 2008 to May 2009. The court document specifies, however, that the officer was granted a leave in February 2009 and that he was at Fort Drum for about a month. He subsequently was back in Iraq for the duration of his deployment.

He had his laptop computer with him, according to the document. Four computers were seized during the search at his Fort Drum residence.

Commissioned an officer in May 1990, Butler was the division's deputy provost marshal when he was initially assigned to Fort Drum, Maj. Harrell said. He became the division provost marshal while he was in Iraq, the major said.

He was unable to specify when Col. Butler was removed as provost marshal.

Butler is a product of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, according to Fort Drum. Also a veteran of an earlier tour in Iraq before his December 2007 transfer to Fort Drum, he has received two Bronze Stars, five meritorious service awards and an Army Commendation Medal, according to Fort Drum.