SF: The City By The Gay

(CNSNews.com) -- Police arrested gay rights advocate Larry Brinkin, who has been a long-time human rights activist, on Friday in San Francisco for alleged possession of child pornography. Brinkin, 66, retired in 2010 after serving 22 years on the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.

Brinkin spent Friday night in county jail, posted bail, and was released on Saturday.

The investigation reportedly was sparked by representatives of America Online who contacted authorities after discovering emails that contained pornographic images of children on one of the company’s subscriber accounts.

The Los Angeles Police Department, initially in charge of the case, then traced the IP address associated with the email address Zack3737@aol.com, to Larry Brinkin. Police then discovered Brinkin had paid for the email service with his credit card, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

Police said that Brinkin, a former city employee, apparently had photos of children, as young as 1- or 2-years-old, performing sexual acts and being sodomized by adult men in attachments linked to the email address, reported The Chronicle. The email account was also linked to Yahoo discussion groups involving sexual exploitation of young people.

Concerning Brinkin, Theresa Sparks, director of the Human Rights Commission, told the Huffington Post, “It's almost incredulous, there's no way I could believe such a thing.”