Child pornography: Arrest not a reflection on department, mayor says
The Village of Elmore administration has been fully cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies in the arrest of a village police officer for distributing child pornography, Mayor Rick Claar said.
Samuel Kurp, 26, who also resides in the village, was taken into custody Aug. 11 by the Toledo office of the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force without incident.
“This is not a reflection on our police force at all,” the mayor said.”We have a great bunch of guys.(Police chief) Jeff and the others got to work on filling the void in the department schedule so we will have minimal overtime.”
Kurp worked full-time for the village and was hired from the Genoa Police Department, he said.
“He (Kurp) had been fully vetted by the Genoa department and again when we hired him. You just don’t know what goes on in people’s minds,” the mayor said.
According to the FBI, a tip was forwarded Aug. 4 by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to the Oregon Police Department, which relayed the tip to the FBI task force.
The FBI said the tip indicated someone had been using a social media messenger app to upload and send 26 videos or image files of child sexual abuse material.
Investigators determined the IP addresses used in the transmission of the material were utilized by Kurp, who had lived in Oregon.
Search warrants were executed Aug. 11 at Kurp’s address in Oregon and his residence in Elmore.
The Elmore Police Department confirmed Kurp’s work schedule on certain dates that coincided with when the pornographic images were distributed.
Kurp was scheduled to have an initial appearance in federal court on Aug. 12 but waived his right to the hearing.
“It’s been total cooperation with the FBI,” Mayor Claar said.
He said Police Chief Jeffrey Harrison met with other officers of the department to bolster their morale and not let the arrest affect their work.
A post on the Elmore department’s Facebook page states Kurp resigned his position with the department prior to being taken into custody by the FBI.
“At this time, we have no information that any local victims were involved,” the post says.