The former executive director of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County was arrested today on suspicion of sending harmful material online to a minor.

Cops say the 30-year-old sent sexually explicit messages to a 16-year-old via a social media platform that they won't name:

The L.A. City Attorney issued a warrant for his arrest following an investigation by the LAPD's Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, police Officer Bruce Borihanh said.

“During the investigation involving a 16-year-old victim, she identified the suspect Scott Hounsell as a person who engaged her with sexually explicit chats via a social media site,” he told us.

Lt. Andrea Grossman of the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit said Hounsell surrendered to police late this morning following the issuance of the warrant.

It wasn't clear exactly when police believe the alleged sexting took place.

Jonathan Wilcox, spokesman for the local GOP, sent us this statement from the organization:

Scott Hounsell is a former employee of RPLAC who resigned on June 15th. Until we were contacted by LAPD today, we had absolutely no knowledge of any information relating to this case. We take this issue very seriously and will fully cooperate with law enforcement any way we can.

Hounsell resigned as executive director, Wilcox told the Weekly. As far as the local party knows, the move didn't have anything to do with the investigation, he said.

Borihanh said he was jailed in lieu of $40,000 bail. L.A. County Sheriff's Department inmate data shows he was released at 4:45 p.m.

On his Twitter page, Hounsell describes himself as the “Democrats' worst nightmare.”

Send feedback and tips to the author. Follow Dennis Romero on Twitter at @dennisjromero. Follow LA Weekly News on Twitter at @laweeklynews.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.