DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. (WREG) — The IT manager of the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department was fired and charged after a child pornography investigation.

A child pornography investigation led the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department to make an arrest in-house.

John Herring, 43, was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with child exploitation and possessing or accessing child exploitation material.

Chief Deputy Justin Smith says Herring, who was the department’s IT manager, was terminated the day he was arrested. He had been employed by the department for 13 years.

“Anytime there is criminal activity within a law enforcement organization it is disheartening, but he was a civilian employee. These things happen,” said Smith.

Smith wouldn’t say much about the investigation but did reveal an incriminating device was found in the building.

“We did find one piece of evidence here. It wasn’t on any of the county computers or things of that nature but there was a storage device with some evidence on it,” he said. “I would hope that the public understands we hold ourselves accountable just like we do everybody else.”

Herring bonded out Monday so we stopped by his home to question him about the allegations. No one answered.

While it’s unclear what led to the launch of the investigation, Smith said the department has a division dedicated to fighting child pornography.

“We have an Internet Crimes Against Children division. It consists of multiple investigators and multiple digital forensic analysts, and we take this very seriously,” he said.

Herring is out on a $50,000 bond.

The sheriff’s department said this investigation is ongoing.