Pulitzer-winning WaPo reporter charged with alleged possession of child porn

Washington Post reporter Thomas Pham LeGro — who won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on former GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore’s alleged pursuit of minors — has been arrested and charged by officials for allegedly possessing child pornography, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials executed a search warrant on the 48-year-old reporter Thursday, seizing several electronic devices, according to a press release from D.C.’s Attorney’s Office. The DOJ says that it discovered a folder on LeGro’s work computer that “contained 11 videos depicting child sexual abuse material.”

“This case is being investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, which is composed of FBI agents, along with other federal agents and detectives from northern Virginia and the District of Columbia,” the DOJ said in its press release. “The task force is charged with investigating and bringing federal charges against individuals engaged in the exploitation of children and those engaged in human trafficking.”

In 2013, LeGro rejoined The Post as an editor on the breaking news desk after previously working part-time for the outlet during graduate school, according to the Mason Spirit. He later became a senior producer for the Post’s International, Style and Technology teams in 2015.

By 2018, LeGro and the staff had won a Pulitzer Prize for “purposeful and relentless reporting that changed the course of a Senate race in Alabama,” exposing Roy Moore’s alleged sexual harassment of underage girls in 2017 while he was the GOP nominee for Senate.

The Post first published its investigation in November 2017, in which four women accused Moore of sexually assaulting them in the 1970s when he was in his 30s and they were minors. The Washington Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Following the team’s win, LeGro was promoted to executive producer in 2021, overseeing the Politics, National, International and Technology teams, according to FOX5.

Moore eventually lost the Alabama Senate race to Democrat Doug Jones and later filed a lawsuit against the four women who accused him, alleging defamation and conspiracy. In 2022, a federal jury awarded Moore $8.2 million in damages after finding a Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC had defamed him in a TV ad, according to NPR.

In response to the allegations against LeGro, a spokesperson for The Washington Post confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation he has been placed on leave.

“The Washington Post understands the severity of these allegations, and the employee has been placed on leave,” the spokesperson told the DCNF.

The charges against LeGro were announced by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, who thanked the FBI Assistant Director and the Metropolitan Police Department chief for their work on the investigation.

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