GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A man who disclosed during a job interview that he had nude photos of a girl on his cellphone not only lost any chance of getting the federal law enforcement position, but now is facing charges that could put him in prison for decades.
Joseph Francis Brisson II made the disclosure last week while being interviewed for a job as a Customs and Border Protection officer, court documents reveal.
A criminal complaint in Grand Rapids accuses Brisson, 45, of sexual exploitation and attempted sexual exploitation of a child.
“He admitted that he had explicit photographs of a minor on his cellphone,’’ Kurt Fiegel, a special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations, wrote in the federal complaint.
If convicted, Brisson faces 15-30 years in prison and would have to register as a sex offender. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 18 in federal court in Grand Rapids.
According to federal court records, Brisson was interviewed on Thursday, Sept. 12 in eastern Michigan as part of the hiring process to become a CBP officer. According to its website, the primary mission of Customs and Border Protection is preventing terrorism.
“As part of the hiring process, he was going to be subjected to a polygraph examination,’’ Fiegel wrote. “During the pre-polygraph interview, he admitted that he had explicit photos of a minor on his cellphone.’’
With that disclosure on the table, those conducting the interview contacted Homeland Security Investigations. Agents arrived to interview Brisson.
He told investigators he used a hidden camera set up in a bathroom to take photos of a girl getting in and out of the shower at a home in Manistee. The girl was not Brisson’s child, court records show.
Brisson told investigators he set up the camera in May and “used the camera surreptitiously to record (the minor) getting into and out of the shower,’’ Fiegel wrote.
“Brisson said he downloaded the videos from the camera onto his home desktop computer,’’ Fiegel wrote. “He also took stills from parts of the videos and saved those.’’
He used his cellphone to take photos of his computer screen when the naked stills were displayed and stored those images in a portion of a Snapchat account labeled ‘My Eyes Only,’ court records how.
“’My Eyes Only’ is a setting in Snapchat that allows a user to password protect any ‘Snaps,’ (i.e. videos or images) that a user does not want other people to see,’’ Fiegel wrote.
Brisson gave HSI agents consent to review his phone. Six images of an unclothed girl were located in the ‘My Eyes Only’ tab of Snapchat. “Two of these appear to meet the federal definition of child pornography; these two images depict (the minor) fully nude.’’
“She is framed from about her chin through her thighs and is clearly a pubescent teenager,’’ Fiegel wrote. The images are from a bathroom and depict the girl stepping into or out of the shower.
“Brisson further admitted that he used the images and videos for his sexual gratification,’’ the agent wrote. “Brisson masturbated using the depictions about twice a week, beginning in May.’’
Police retrieved a desktop computer on which Brisson saved the videos.
“Based on the foregoing information, I believe there is probable cause to charge Joseph Francis Brisson II with sexual exploitation and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor beginning in or about May 2019 and continuing through September 2019,’’ Fiegel wrote.
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