PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — The information technology manager at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office is out of a job after authorities say he "pushed" two law enforcement officers during a child pornography investigation.
According to an arrest report, the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children task force started its investigation on June 11 after a user named "hardrivefl" uploaded an image to Kik Messenger that showed the sexual abuse of a female child who was only 4 to 6 years old.
A task force investigator said the name listed on the Kik account was "Jeff Darter," and the IP address on the user's Kik log led them to 61-year-old Jeffrey Darter.
On Nov. 13, that investigator, along with a West Palm Beach police officer, made contact with Darter at the Supervisor of Elections office, located at 240 S. Military Trail in suburban West Palm Beach.
Darter was the information technology manager at the Supervisor of Elections office, according to his arrest report.
Authorities said Darter admitted to having a Kik account but claimed he doesn't use it.
"[Darter] stated he could have uploaded the child pornography image by accident but he doesn't know," the arrest report stated. "Darter indicated he has seen child pornography before and that he has friends who interested in it, one of them even started a website to show child pornography."
According to his arrest report, Darter refused to let authorities look at his Samsung S9 cell phone.
"[Darter] became nervous and began using his cell phone," the arrest report said. "It appeared to me that he may have been deleting evidence of the crime from his cell phone."
The task force investigator was able to seize Darter's phone from his hand while they were in a break room.
"[Darter] pushed me back and attempted to take the phone from my possession," according to the arrest report. Darter then pushed the West Palm Beach officer when she tried to intervene, the arrest report said.
Authorities said Darter's phone was turned over to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, and it will be searched.
Darter was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on Nov. 13 on charges of battery on a law enforcement officer. He is not facing any charges related to possession of child pornography at this point.
Wendy Sartory-Link, the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections, said Darter was terminated for a policy violation involving a computer.
"I know the sheriff's office believes they have unpleasant photos that may have been distributed, and they did check our computers, and there was nothing that they were looking for on our computers," said Sartory-Link.
Sartory-Link added Darter downloaded something onto an office computer, which is a violation of the office's policy. She added Darter did not download anything illegal.