Army Civilian IT Leader Allegedly Ran Child Sex Abuse Ring, Compromised National Security

David Frodsham, a top civilian commander at a U.S. air base in Afghanistan, was given security clearances while allegedly leading a child pornography ring, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Frodsham’s involvement in child abuse, for which he pled guilty in 2016 and is currently serving a 17-year prison sentence, would have made him vulnerable to blackmail while he was conducting sensitive IT work at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, according to the AP.

The army gave security clearances to Frodsham at a time when nearly 20 complaints and attempted complaints of abuse, maltreatment and licensing violations were levied against him and his wife regarding children they fostered and adopted, the AP reported.

“He would have been an obvious target of foreign intelligence services because of his role and his location,” Frank Figliuzzi, the former assistant director of counterintelligence for the FBI, told the AP.

Police identified Frodsham as an alleged leader of a child sex ring through Sgt. Randall Bischak, whom police discovered through an undercover Homeland Security sting which led to a raid of his home by federal and local law enforcement, according to the AP.

Bischak said Frodsham allegedly brought him at least one young child to have sex with, the AP reported. He also confessed to having sex with a 59-year-old man and his teenage son and recording at least one of the incidents.

The U.S. Army did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.