Ex-ACLU president accused of child pornography

Charles Rust-Tierney, a coach of Virginia children’s sports teams and former president of the state chapter of the ACLU, was arrested in Arlington on a warrant for the possession of child pornography. The 51-year-old Rust-Tierney was not represented by counsel when he appeared in Federal court in Alexandria Virginia on February 23 to answer the charges. Another hearing is slated for February 28.

According to a federal criminal complaint, Rust-Tierney had used his email address and credit card for a subscription and access to a child pornography website. According to the criminal complaint, Rust-Tierney has subscribed to multiple child pornography websites over a period of years.

As recently as October 2006, the child coach purchased access to hard-core child pornography websites. According to a Federal affidavit, Rust-Tierney has admitted to downloading child pornography to his computer and storing it on a CD-ROM.

Rust-Tierney had achieved some notoriety in the last few years when he argued the ACLU’s case against restrictions on Internet access at public libraries. Rust-Tierney wrote “Recognizing that individuals will continue to behave responsibly and appropriately while in the library, the default should be maximum, unrestricted access to the valuable resources of the Internet."

A coach of child sports team in Arlington Virginia, Rust-Tierney is accused of possessing video child pornography that portrayed the forcible rape of pre-pubescent girls, some of whom could be seen to weep in the videos while others were restrained with ropes.

Rust-Tierney served as president of the Virginia ACLU chapter from 2002-2005.