WASHINGTON - A spokesman for the Homeland Security Department was put on unpaid leave Wednesday after being charged with preying on a child through online sexual conversations with an undercover detective who was posing as a 14-year-old girl.

Homeland Security officials said Brian J. Doyle, the fourth-ranking spokesman at the department, was put on "non-pay status" following the charges late Tuesday. Doyle, 55, was expected to appear in court Wednesday afternoon in suburban Maryland, where he lives.

"The department is cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation into the allegations against Brian Doyle," said Homeland Security press secretary Russ Knocke. "We take these allegations very seriously."

Knocke said Doyle's security clearance, employee badge and facility access permissions have been suspended. The department's inspector general also is investigating the charges, which say Doyle revealed his name and his employer and offered the numbers of his Homeland Security-issued office and cell phones during online conversations.

Doyle joined the federal government as a civil service employee in early 2002, ending a career with Time magazine to work at the Transportation Security Administration, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown. He joined the Homeland Security's press operation last summer.

A former colleague said Doyle is divorced.

The charges, by the Polk County, Fla., Sheriff's Department, accuse Doyle of finding the teenager's profile online and allege that he began having sexually explicit conversations with her on the Internet on March 14.

Authorities said he sent her ****ographic movie clips, as well as non-sexual photos of himself, officials said. One of the photos, released by the sheriff's office, shows Doyle in what appears to be DHS headquarters. He is wearing a Homeland Security pin on his lapel and a lanyard that says " TSA."

On several occasions, Doyle instructed her to perform a sexual act while thinking of him and described explicit activities he wanted to have with her, investigators said.

Doyle appeared Wednesday afternoon at a court hearing in suburban Maryland, where he lives. No bail was set, and he only spoke to answer routine questions, such as verifying his name. He was joined at the hearing by a woman that his attorney, Barry Hefland, identified at Doyle's life partner of 15 years.

Helfand said he hopes that at a bond review hearing, Doyle will be given bond so he can turn himself in to authorities in Florida without the need for extradition.

Authorities arrested Doyle on Tuesday at his Silver Spring, Md., home as he was online with the "girl." The undercover detective had called Doyle at work and said she got a Web camera, as he had asked her to do, and wanted to test it out, said Carrie Rodgers, Polk County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.

"He said he would get on the computer when he got home from work so we knew he would be on," Rodgers said. "When (police) went to his door, he was on the computer in the middle of a conversation with the girl."

He was booked into the Montgomery County Detention Center. Doyle also faces a charge of transmission of harmful material to a minor.

"He said last night that he was going to waive extradition. If he does that, we may have him back by the end of the week," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Wednesday. "He could get to court today and some lawyer may say 'no, you don't want to do that.' The bottom line is we don't know when he's coming back."

Law enforcement agencies in Florida and other states have focused on conducting stings in recent years to catch people trying to lure children for sex over the Internet. The agencies set up fake profiles of young boys and girls and then wait for predators to take the bait.

There was no immediate response to messages left on Doyle's government-issued cell phone and his e-mail, and he could not be reached by phone at the jail for comment.

someone should kick his as s too.

I'm serious, it's not fair for these predators to hurt innocent people...

ugh, I'm so tired of guys like this, let's hang him

I just heard this on the news...messed up!

there are so sick people in the word and i dont see things geting better so sad and scary

bet ya if you follow the trail os sickness, it will lead to the highest powers, so I have read.