Air Force Maj. Richard F. Gayson was indicted on 128 counts of possession of child pornography after investigators traced files uploaded to a cloud account to his home in Fort Washington, Md. (Joseph Barron/U.S. Air Force)
An Air Force major was indicted this week on 128 counts of possessing child sexual abuse material in Maryland, months after a tip from a child protection organization prompted a police investigation.
Richard F. Gayson, 34, of Fort Washington, Md., was indicted on the charges in Prince George’s County, State’s Attorney Tara Jackson announced Thursday.
Gayson’s last known assignment was at the 8th Operations Support Squadron at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea, according to an Air Force contact directory.
It’s unclear whether he remains on active duty or whether any administrative action has been taken against him. The Air Force did not immediately respond to questions and a request for comment.
Police executed a search warrant at Gayson’s home Feb. 4 following a December tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to charging documents cited by WTTG, the local Fox affiliate.
Stars and Stripes was unable to independently obtain the court documents from Prince George’s County Circuit Court by Friday.
The child protection center had been contacted by Synchronoss Technologies, a company that provides cloud services to telecommunications providers, after suspected child sexual abuse material was uploaded and saved through an account associated with Gayson, the television station reported.
The tip also included an IP address that investigators determined was associated with Gayson.
During the February search, investigators found files depicting child sexual abuse material on several devices, including a flash drive, microSD card, two cellphones and two laptops.
Gayson was initially held without bond. A judge released him to home detention following a July 10 review hearing despite opposition from prosecutors, according to Jackson’s office.
It was unclear Friday whether Gayson has entered a plea or retained an attorney.
