Senate staffer arrested on child pornography charges found dead

1-24-2014 Maryland:

The former chief of staff to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) who was arrested on child pornography charges last month has been found dead in a suicide.

Jesse Ryan Loskarn, 35, hanged himself in his parents' house in Sykesville, Md., according to a spokesperson for Maryland's office of the chief medical examiner.

Authorities found Loskarn's body on Thursday after responding to a call at approximately 12 p.m., according to a statement from the Carroll County Sheriff's Department.

A preliminary investigation indicated that Loskarn had committed suicide, and the body was then transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.

Loskarn had been released into his parents’ custody in mid-December after being charged with possession and distribution of child pornography. Prosecutors had until Feb. 10 to formally indict Loskarn in the case.

At a hearing in December, Loskarn was confined to his parents’ home, where he was banned from using any electronic device that could allow him to access the Internet. Loskarn was ordered to be under high-intensity supervision during his release and was required to wear an electronic monitoring device.

Prosecutors had argued against Loskarn’s release, warning there was no way to ensure he did not have access to the Internet and that he was at risk of fleeing or harming himself.

Utah Republican activist facing rape charges found dead after jail release

10-24-2012 Utah:

A Utah Tea Party activist and Republican fundraiser charged with more than two dozen felony counts of rape and sexual assault has died from an apparent suicide just four days after he was freed from jail on bail, his attorney said on Wednesday.

Greg N. Peterson, 37, was found dead in his remote Heber City-area cabin, in the mountains about 50 miles east of Salt Lake City, by two bail bondsmen late on Tuesday, defense lawyer Cara Tangaro said.

An initial investigation indicates Peterson died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Wasatch County Sheriff Todd Bonner said at a news conference Tuesday night. The death remained under investigation.

The cabin was the site of Peterson's annual Rocky Mountain Conservative BBQ - an annual summer fundraiser initiated in 2010 for Republican Party luminaries, including presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch and the state's governor, Gary Herbert.

Peterson was arrested in July and charged by Salt Lake County prosecutors with 25 counts sexual abuse, assault, rape, sodomy and kidnapping. The charges stem from allegations that Peterson had attacked four women he met through an online dating site for Mormons or at church-related events.

Wasatch County prosecutors filed a similar sex abuse case against Peterson in August after a fifth woman came forward.

Peterson, a financial planner, had denied the allegations, although he had not yet entered a plea in either case. On Friday, Peterson had posted bail of $2 million and was released from jail.

The bail bondsmen went looking for Peterson on Tuesday after something went awry with the signal from his ankle monitor and no one was able to reach him by phone, Tangaro said.

"We were worried that something was wrong," Tangaro told Reuters on Wednesday. "We had been having contact with Greg daily since his release."

Peterson had no known medical history that put him at risk for suicide and had not displayed any signs that he was in distress, Tangaro said. Peterson had felt, however, tremendous pressure from media coverage of the case, which he believed had unfairly demonized him, she said.

"I think the thought that he may not overcome that image, no matter the outcome of his case, was very difficult," Tangaro said. "We were absolutely shocked by (his death)."

Tangaro said she does not believe Peterson's apparent suicide should be interpreted as an admission of guilt. ..Source.. by Jennifer Dobner

Colleagues shocked at death, investigation of former Sen. Gil Koetzle

1-11-2013 South Dakota:

South Dakota lawmakers remember Gil Koetzle, who killed himself the day after law enforcement searched his home, as a hard-working legislator who had respect from both sides of the political spectrum.

They also are expressing shock at the suicide and the child pornography investigation of the veteran Democratic lawmaker.

“If you’d have asked me to name 1,000 people who had a problem with that, Gil would have been the 1000th,” said Bernie Hunhoff, a Yankton representative who served with Koetzle in Pierre.

Koetzle, 60, a retired firefighter who served 16 years in the Legislature, was found dead in his Sioux Falls home one day after a police raid that took computers and marijuana as part of a child pornography investigation.