SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An employee of the California Legislature was arrested for allegedly possessing child pornography, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies arrested 28-year-old Brandon Martinez Bratcher on Tuesday on a single complaint of possession of child pornography – a felony. Bratcher works as a legislative assistant for Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan.
According to the sheriff’s office public information officer Sgt. Rod Grassmann, an investigation was launched after a “large social media company” notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that one of its users had a pornographic photo of an underage person on their account.
The social media company was not identified by Grassmann nor was the age or identity of the victim.
NCMEC then put together a crime tip profile on the user and took that information to the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force. The task force determined that the internet provider address came from within the Capitol.
According to Grassmann, the task force identified the user as Bratcher. They then handed the case over to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), which has jurisdiction over the Capitol grounds.
Bratcher turned himself in on Monday and was released the same day, according to jail records. Details on his bond were not available.
Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan's office issued the following statement regarding Bratcher's arrest:
“We were stunned to learn of these disturbing charges. Once we learned of the investigation he was immediately placed on administrative leave.”
