WAKEENY, Kan. (AP) – A former official with a western Kansas sheriff’s office has been arrested on charges of trafficking in child pornography and sex crimes involving children.

Blaine Dryden, 62, of WaKenney, was arrested Wednesday on a warrant charging him with aggravated internet trading of child pornography and several counts of sexual exploitation of a child, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

The alleged crimes occurred between November 2019 and last June, while Dryden was a lieutenant with the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office, investigators said. Dryden was placed on administrative leave by the Ellis County sheriff when the department learned of the investigation, and his employment with the office ended in July.

Dryden was being held in the Graham County Jail on $750,000 bond.