Summary

On December 17, 2015, Eric Worrell, a former civil engineer with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in Sacramento, California, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, Sacramento, California, to receiving child pornography.

The investigation was initiated after a thumb drive was found in a hallway outside the offices of the FHWA Sacramento office. The thumb drive was given to the Office of Inspector General, which used computer forensic techniques to determine it belonged to Worrell. A forensic examination of the thumb drive and Worrell's government-owned computer was conducted, which revealed hundreds of images of child erotica and child pornography. A search of his personal computer also revealed additional images of child pornography.

We conducted this investigation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - Homeland Security Investigations.