California Legislature staffer arrested on child porn charge, Sacramento sheriff says
A legislative assistant working for a state assemblywoman has been arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography after investigators tracked an illicit image to a computer at the California Capitol building.
Brandon Martinez Bratcher, 28, was arrested on a felony charge of possessing child pornography, said Sacramento County sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Rodney Grassmann. He said Bratcher became aware a warrant had been issued for his arrest, so he turned himself in Monday at the Sheriff’s Office.
Later that day, Bratcher was released from the Sacramento County Jail. The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office on Oct. 30 formally charged Bratcher with one count of possessing child pornography, according to court records.
Kristy Horton, Bratcher’s attorney, appeared on his behalf at his arraignment Wednesday afternoon, which was broadcast on the court’s Youtube channel. The arraignment was postponed until Dec. 2, when the court will review his bail.
Sacramento Superior Court Commissioner Ken Brody told Horton that prosecutors requested the bail review, because Bratcher was released from the jail on his own recognizance.
Deputy District Attorney Jacqueline Danens said Bratcher, who is facing a child porn possession charge, should not have been released on his own recognizance.
The court commissioner said the defendants facing that charge usually are ordered to stay away from children and agree to an electronic search by authorities while free and awaiting prosecution. Brody told the defense attorney that Bratcher must appear for his next hearing in December. The defendant did not attend Wednesday’s hearing.
Bratcher works for Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda. Her office issued this statement about Bratcher’s arrest: “We were stunned to learn of these disturbing charges. Once we learned of the investigation, he was immediately placed on administrative leave.”
The Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force, made up of investigators from agencies in the region including the Sheriff’s Office, launched the investigation that led to Bratcher’s arrest.
Grassmann said a “social media company” in February became aware one of its users had a child porn image on an account and alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He said the center has a database that helps track online users distributing or receiving child porn images.
The center then created a crime tip profile and submitted the information to Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which works closely with the Sacramento task force. The local investigators then obtained a search warrant to examine account data for the social media company and the Internet provider linked to the user’s account, Grassmann said.
The sheriff’s spokesman said the search warrants led to information that identified Bratcher as the user with the child porn image and traced the user’s account to a computer at the Capitol. He said the California Highway Patrol, which has jurisdiction at the Capitol building, was informed and took the lead on the investigation.
Grassmann did not name the social media company that flagged the child porn image or the Internet provider, and he said he did not have any information about the child porn image itself or how many illicit images were found in Bratcher’s possession.
