A SLO County deputy sheriff who once worked as a school resource officer has been arrested and charged in a sweeping federal child-porn sting.

Bryan Jon Goossens, 47, of Atascadero and two other SLO County men were among 55 charged as the result of an FBI-led investigation.

Goossens and Jeremy Neubauer, 30, of Nipomo were each charged with one felony count of possessing child porn, while Bryan David Arnold, 41, of Grover Beach was charged with two counts of possession related to two separate incidents.

• BUSTED : three local men were swept up in a regional child porn bust. All three are currently facing federal charges for allegedly possessing illegal pornographic images of children.

 Arnold’s troubles go back to 2007, when his Grover Beach home was raided, in an unrelated sting operation. In June, a complaint was filed against him, which describes the nature of material seized from his computer. Among the images found were explicit photos of two children, aged 2 to 3 years old, and 4 to 8 years old, who are classified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as “known victims of molestation.”

According to an FBI spokesman, Goossens turned himself in and was arrested by federal agents Aug 12. He was later released on $5,000 bail.

According to the affidavit, which was used to obtain a search warrant of Goossens’ home on Aug. 7, Goossens allegedly received links to six “sample” videos from an online video distributor, which was later investigated by the FBI.

The Web page, called the “Child Porno Video Shop,” was compromised in December last year when the FBI gained access to the shop’s e-mail records, including exchanges from Goossens’ private e-mail account. Goossens did not inquire about child porn specifically, according to records, but the Web site does not contain any adult porn. Based on Goossens’ presumed possession of the six videos, the FBI was able to get a warrant, and subsequently seized his computer.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joey Blanch would not comment on the scope of material that was discovered in the raid, because that information is not considered public yet. Under federal law, intentional possession of even one image or video is a felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

The busts were the result of an 8-month investigation by the FBI and several other federal agencies, in which they targeted people using peer-to-peer file sharing through programs such as LimeWire, as well as people communicating with known child-porn distributors.

Sheriff’s spokesman Rob Bryn said the department conducted its own investigation and put Goossens on paid administrative leave in July. Bryn said there is no reason to believe that Goossens was using on-duty time, or sheriff’s equipment inappropriately.

Goossens’ 20-year history with the department included shifts as a patrol officer and a correctional officer before he was made deputy in 1991. He also served a two-year stint as a high-school resource officer, though Bryn declined to say which schools he was assigned to. Goossens no longer works for the sheriff; he resigned last week.