A Madison County, Virginia, Sheriff’s Office detective, assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), was arrested this morning and charged via federal criminal complaint with four counts relating to the sexual exploitation of minors.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Rick A. Mountcastle of the Western District of Virginia, Colonel Steve W. Flaherty of the Virginia State Police and Acting Special Agent in Charge Division John J. Lenkart of the FBI’s Richmond Division made the announcement.

Bruce A. Harvey, 40, of Reva, Virginia, has been charged with two counts of transporting minors across state lines with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and two counts of interstate travel with minors with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. The alleged criminal activity involved two minor female victims who had contact with Harvey while he worked as a karate instructor. The alleged criminal conduct occurred between 1998 and 2007.

Harvey, a former instructor at the Virginia Tong Leong School of Karate in Madison, had his initial appearance this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville and remains in custody pending further court action.

The charges contained in a complaint are merely accusations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The investigation of the case is ongoing and being conducted by the FBI and the Virginia State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy S. Healey of the Western District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Lauren S. Kupersmith of the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

If you have any information about these crimes or information about a potential victim, please contact the FBI at 800-CALL-FBI. Investigators and victim specialists are available to assist you.