A Secret Service officer has been charged with soliciting a minor for sex after he allegedly texted an undercover detective who was posing as a 14-year-old girl. Court documents say he admitted to sending some of the texts from his job at the White House.

Lee Robert Moore, 37, who lives in Church Hill, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, faces a federal charge of attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor. He surrendered to the Maryland State Police Monday.

The criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware says the investigation began when a Delaware state trooper assigned to the Child Predator Task Force created a computer profile of a girl on an Internet site called “Meet24” and started chatting online with a person called “Rob.”

According to the criminal complaint, the officer sent photos of himself to the trooper – including one of him wearing a tactical vest – and engaged in lengthy, sexually explicit text-messaging sessions, sometimes from a break room at work.

Another time, he admitted to texting the trooper from a guard booth where he was checking in visitors to the White House, the criminal complaint says. On that day, the court document says, Moore complained about his assignment and asked to be sent “something exciting.”

The Secret Service said it was notified of the case on Nov. 6 and put Moore on leave, suspended his arrest powers and his security clearance, and took away his weapon.

No attorney for Moore, who is in the uniformed division, was listed in court documents. Moore did not return calls to his home.

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