The Chief Operating Officer of the National Children’s Museum was arrested today on charges of distributing child pornography. Charges were filed in a federal court in New York City.
The executive, Robert A. Singer, of Falls Church, VA, is accused of using his computers at the museum offices and at home to transmit 80 images depicting sexual acts between minors and adults. He was arrested by Federal agents in a sting operation involving New York detectives.
The museum, established in 1974 as the Capital Children’s Museum, was located at 800 3rd Street NE, near Union Station, but closed those 130-year-old facilities in 2004 and is scheduled to reopen in 2012 at National Harbor in Prince Georges County. The organization is conducting a $130 million national fundraising campaign. Museum administrative offices are currently located at L’Enfant Plaza.
Mr. Singer had worked for the National Children’s Museum for four years. In a prepared statement, the museum says it is “horrified.”
There are nearly 250 children’s museums in the United States, with 80 more in the planning phase, according to the Association of Children’s Museums.
Top: Logo of National Children’s Museum.
NotionsCapital 
November 7, 2007 at 11:51 am
Sickening. Really. I read about this in the Express this morning.
Also, on a side note, I moved to DC this summer, and am really frustrated that there is no Children’s Museum. It takes 8 years to renovate a museum? By that point, my daughter will be too old and won’t want to go.
November 7, 2007 at 1:06 pm
The so-called National Children’s Museum, formerly the Capital Children’s Museum (CCM), was in a crumbling old building in NE and was supposed to open in L’Enfant Plaza but got caught by the spiraling real estate market. They are now claiming they will open in PG County but have to raise $130 million first.
CCM was a sad affair, with pretty awful exhibits, and it was no great loss.
There are other museums for kids in the area other than Smithsonian Children’s programs:
Discovery Creek Children’s Museum in DC
Chesapeake Children’s Museum in Annapolis, MD
Port Discovery in Baltimore (seems pretty commercial to me)
Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum in Winchester, VA
Virginia Discovery Museum in Charlottesville, VA
I also like the Textile Museum and Bead Museum in DC, if your kid is old enough. They don’t have that much touchy-feely but many kids appreciate how cool they are, and they have good docents.