A Hancock County sheriff’s deputy was fired and is now behind bars after authorities arrested him on charges involving sexual exploitation of children.
Derrick Flanagan was arrested Friday and has been charged with two counts of exploitation of children, accessing child pornography.
The Hancock County Sheriff’s office received a cyber tip last week which had been forwarded from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
After reviewing the information in the tip and its associated computer evidence, it was determined that the tip possibly involved a deputy.
The sheriff’s office turned all of the information over to the Cyber Crimes Division of the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office for handling.
Flanagan was then arrested on Friday and booked into Hancock County Adult Detention Center.
This is an on-going investigation and is being conducted by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
