Former US Commerce Department official was arrested in November on child pornography charges

Adam Hageman is accused of ‘sharing a child pornography video and commenting several times on sexually abusing children’ in a chat group

The charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years

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A former US government employee has been jailed since November on charges of receiving and possession of child pornography. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 10:30am, 6 Mar 2021Updated: 10:30am, 6 Mar 2021

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Caitlin Oprysko on politico.com on March 5, 2021.

A Trump Commerce Department official has been jailed since November on federal charges of receiving and possession of child pornography.

Adam Hageman, 25, is accused of “sharing a child pornography video and commenting several times on sexually abusing children” as captured in graphic messages in an online chat, according to a complaint in US District Court in the District of Columbia.

A LinkedIn profile bearing the name Adam Hageman shows that the user was an advance representative at the Commerce Department beginning in May of last year, and according to the complaint investigators confirmed with the department Hageman’s date of birth, employment and residence in Washington, DC.

At the time he became a federal employee, Hageman had been posting in the chat group for months, prosecutors allege.

According to a pretrial detention memo filed on November 17, prosecutors charge that Hageman was “an active participant, often soliciting child pornography or commenting on it,” and “invited at least one other person who he knew to be interested in child pornography and bestiality to the chat.”

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