When did Thomas LeGro win the Pulitzer Prize? Complete details explored as journalist arrested for possessing child pornography

The Washington Post journalist, Thomas LeGro arrested
The Washington Post journalist, Thomas LeGro arrested (Getty via Soap Central CMS- Resized on Canva)

Thomas LeGro, who worked as the Deputy Director of Video at The Washington Post, was arrested on Thursday, June 26, 2025, after the FBI had raided his apartment, seized multiple devices, and found 11 videos depicting child sexual abuse material on his work laptop.

LeGro, an award-winning journalist, was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for investigative reporting on the Senate campaign of Roy Moore in Alabama, as per NBC Washington.

He appeared in court on Friday, June 27, 2025, and will be held in custody until a detention hearing, which is scheduled for Wednesday.


Details of Thomas LeGro's career explored

The Pulitzer Prize Thomas won in 2018 has a great impact, as it also earned the 2018 Toner Prize for excellence in political reporting. Hence, winning the Pulitzer and Toner Prizes marked a high point in LeGro’s career at The Washington Post.

During his time at The Washington Post from 2000-2006, Thomas worked in the sports section as a news aide and later a copy editor. He then joined PBS NewsHour as a reporter-producer, focusing on arts and culture. In 2013, he returned to The Washington Post as a video editor on the breaking news desk.

He was then promoted to the position of a senior producer, overseeing the International, Style, and Technology video teams. In 2021, he was promoted as an executive producer, leading the Politics, National, International, and Technology video teams.

As per The Washington Post, in 2017 and 2020, he won the Webby Awards for the RUN‑DMC & Aerosmith story and a documentary titled The Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. He was nominated for the Emmy for breaking news coverage of the Pulse nightclub shooting.

In a statement to News4, the Washington Post expressed how they're taking these allegations against their employee. They said:

''The Post understands the severity of these allegations, and the employee has been placed on leave.''

Thomas is facing federal charges of possessing child pornography, and if convicted, he will face 20 years in prison. The FBI was reportedly watching his internet activity since May 2025, as part of their investigation, after they got permission from the court.

As per the DOJ, the raid and arrest were led by the FBI’s Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. The DOJ also said that the case was brought as part of the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood initiative, which began back in 2006, as a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.

The case is still in the pretrial phase, and the FBI is still actively investigating.

Edited by Abhimanyu Sharma