Ex-NPR Editor In Child Porn Bust

FEBRUARY 26--For the second time this month, a Washington, D.C. media figure has been charged with possession of child pornography.

David Malakoff, who until recently worked as National Public Radio's science editor and an on-air correspondent, was named in a felony criminal information filed Tuesday. The information, a copy of which you'll find here, offers few details about the 46-year-old Malakoff's alleged criminal activity, except to note that he possessed the illicit material between April and June 2008 (Malakoff resigned from his job last June, according to NPR spokesperson Anna Christopher).

The Department of Justice's filing of an information--as opposed to a criminal complaint or indictment--often indicates that a defendant has agreed to plead guilty to charges. Malakoff, an Alexandria, Virginia resident, worked from NPR's Washington headquarters. The felony charge against him was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, possibly indicating that the child porn was recovered from his NPR office, and not his home, which is in a different judicial district.

Malakoff's lawyer, Danny Onorato, declined to discuss details of the case. Malakoff did not return a message sent to him via his Facebook account. Earlier this month, a Fox News producer was arrested on child porn charges after an FBI search of his laptop turned up several photos and videos showing the sexual abuse of children. (4 pages)

3/6 UPDATE: A 'Statement of Facts' filed today in U.S. District Court reveals that at least 150 child porn images and video clips were discovered on a laptop issued to Malakoff by NPR. The illicit material was discovered last year by an IT worker after Malakoff 'reported that he believed that a virus may have been affecting the computer.' While examining the laptop, the NPR technician noticed that the LimeWire file sharing program had been downloaded, and upon 'further inspection the employee found a LimeWire folder that contained files with sexually explicit titles referencing sexual acts with minors.' Malakoff downloaded the child porn last April, two months before he requested that IT inspect his balky computer. He pleaded guilty today to a felony child porn possession charge.