Jeff Rosato, 32, a senior staffer for Sen. Barbara Boxer has been fired after he was charged by authorities late last week with distributing and receiving child pornography. He was arrested after he sent more than 600 images and movies of child pornography to an undercover FBI agent he believed was a 13-year-old boy, according to an FBI affidavit. The aide, Jeff Rosato, 32, was arrested last Friday. Boxer's office fired him that same day upon learning of the charges.

But he has been released to home detention after a hearing Wednesday in federal court in Virginia, court documents show. "On Friday, the Justice Department informed our office of criminal charges made against a Senate employee," Boxer's Communications Director Natalie Ravitz said in a statement on Thursday. A spokeswoman for the Senator told the DC Examiner that Boxer has zero tolerance for crimes against children and that her office is cooperating fully with the Department of Justice in this matter.

Rosato started as a legislative assistant in Boxer's personal office in 2005. Last year he became a senior policy adviser and counsel to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which is chaired by Boxer. He focused on issues including endangered species, water policy and oceans. His congressional salary was $101,020 last year.

From January 2 to January 23, Rosato sent the detective more than 600 files of graphic images during 15 online chats. Evidence showed that Rosato had also been trading child porn with other Google Hello users, according to investigators.
Moreover a preliminary review of Rosato's personal laptop computer found some 200 child porn images and some videos that showed young boys engaged in sexual acts.