A former University Park mayor was charged with 28 child pornography offenses after authorities searched his home Monday.

Court records indicate that the investigation by state and federal authorities began earlier this year while Joel Biermann, 46, was still serving as mayor of the town in Prince George’s County. His successor, Laurie Morrissey, was sworn in this June following a town election.

The FBI notified the town’s municipal police department early Monday of its plans to raid Biermann’s home, the town said in a statement.

Biermann, who served on the Town Council for a two-year term starting in 2020 and was elected mayor in 2022, “no longer has an official position with the Town,” according to the statement.

“He is a private citizen, and the town has no contact with him and cannot comment on his activities,” the statement reads. “These are serious charges, and the Town is ready to assist as requested.”

Prince George’s County Police wrote in charging documents that authorities reviewed more than 4,500 Facebook messages between Biermann and an “unknown subject” who lives outside the country. In those chats, Biermann is “observed soliciting sexually explicit material of minor boys,” charging papers say.

The chats, in which Biermann makes statements about paying for the other person to shoot explicit photos of children, lasted from January 2021 to December 2023, police wrote.

When police searched Biermann’s Tuckerman Street home on Monday, they found electronic devices including a hard drive containing “numerous file folders” containing child pornography, police wrote. The folders contained about 45,000 images and videos of suspected child pornography, according to police.

Similar images were found on the former mayor’s cellphone, and a search of Biermann’s office found a “pair of young boys underwear,” police wrote. PayPal records showed six payments between the former mayor and the unknown suspect he spoke to on Facebook, totaling more than $850. Some included notes detailing that they were for cameras and photo shoots.

Biermann was ordered Wednesday to remain held without bail in the Prince George’s County Detention Center, according to court records, which say he is being represented by the Office of the Public Defender. The office declined to comment.

Biermann was appointed earlier this year to the Maryland Veterans Home Commission by Gov. Wes Moore. He was removed from the board, which advises the Department of Veterans and Military Families on oversight of the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home, effective immediately, a spokesperson for the department said Thursday. He had attended one meeting in the volunteer position.

Biermann had been a resident of University Park, a town of just over 2,450 located between College Park and Hyattsville, since 2013, according to a resolution passed by the town’s council ahead of his departure in June. He served 25 years in the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve, and had been deployed to Iraq. He also worked for a defense contractor and owned a small notary business, according to his LinkedIn page.

The former mayor’s charges come just under a year after Patrick Wojahn, the former mayor of neighboring College Park, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for child pornography offenses.

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