Former West Homestead Police Chief David Ausburn had sex with a 14-year-old girl in his patrol car and at his home and documented their illicit relationship in explicit e-mails, according to federal agents.

Ausburn, who is in federal custody, admitted to agents from the Crimes Against Children Task Force that he had sex with the girl, now 16, who called him "Dave," or "Dutch," his nickname.

In an affidavit unsealed yesterday, U.S. Postal Inspector Tom Clinton said that after a raid on Ausburn's office Feb. 3, the chief wrote several suicide notes in which he acknowledged that he had oral sex with the girl.

That evening, Ausburn tried to poison himself with carbon monoxide in his garage and was rushed to UPMC Presbyterian.

There, Clinton said, he confessed to FBI agent Bradley Orsini, saying he and the girl began having a sexual relationship in 2003.

He also confirmed the e-mail correspondence in which he and the girl discussed their sexual encounters using code words,the affidavit says.

The e-mails, hard copies of which were discovered in the desk where Ausburn had worked as a detective before becoming chief, are part of the court record but remain under seal because they would identify the girl.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette does not identify victims or accusers in sex crimes.

Ausburn, 35, was arraigned last week in U.S. District Court, where his wife sat in the gallery and talked with him quietly. He is being held in a local jail, the location of which was kept secret to protect him from other inmates because he was a police chief.

He is charged with violating a federal statute prohibiting "coercion and enticement" of a minor by mail or other means into having sex.

His lawyer, James Ecker, said yesterday he could not comment on any aspect of the case.

The U.S. attorney's staff won't comment, either, but federal prosecutors will next take the case before a grand jury for indictment. Defendants charged by criminal complaint must be indicted within 30 days of the charge, although in this case prosecutors have received an extension until April 4.

According to the affidavit, parts of which are blacked out, the case began on Jan. 10 when someone called Clinton to report the discovery of the hard-copy e-mails produced by Ausburn.

On Feb. 2, Clinton and his partner, FBI agent Denise Holtz, interviewed the girl at her house.

She told them she and "Dutch" had sex in his unmarked patrol car and at his house and talked regularly by computer and cell phone. The most recent conversation was on Feb. 1. The girl also said she sent cards and letters to the chief at the police station.

She told agents how she had met Ausburn, but that information has been removed. During the raid of the police station on Feb. 3, Clinton said Ausburn also told him and Orsini how the two met, but that also has been removed.

In the initial interview, Clinton said, Ausburn claimed the girl "came on" to him, began dressing provocatively and visited him at home. He also said he had been alone with her in his patrol car and she had expressed an interest in having sex, but he didn't admit to any sex.

At 1:30 the next morning, however, Orsini received a call from Ausburn's girlfriend, saying he had tried to kill himself. Although Ausburn is married and has a son, he apparently was living with another woman.

After confessing at the hospital, he checked himself into Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic for 72 hours.

While there, he called Clinton and Orsini on Feb. 7 and said he wanted to talk again.

This time, Clinton said, the agents asked him to write his initials on the e-mails to confirm they were his.

"Ausburn acknowledged," Clinton wrote, "that he used the e-mails to communicate with [the girl] regarding their relationship, that the e-mails were used by him to encourage the continuation of the relationship, and also as a means of maintaining the confidentiality of their relationship."