A Chelsea, Massachusetts, man who is already registered as a sex offender was arraigned on a child pornography charge Monday as part of an ongoing investigation prompted by a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Timothy Brown, 38, was arraigned on one count of possession of child pornography. His bail was set at $10,000.
The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said the investigation began due to a cyber tip provided by Yahoo to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The tip reported an email sent by a user with photos attached. The photos showed a child getting undressed. Yahoo also provided data on the IP address that accessed the picture files and dates and times that the email was sent and the account was accessed.
The tip was referred to Massachusetts State Police, and the department began investigating.
Another man, identified as Kenneth Higgins, of Revere, was arrested on March 13 on the same charge. Higgins is also a registered sex offender, according to police.
The DA said Higgins was identified through the email address and Brown was identified as using the IP address that accessed the email account.
In a cellphone found in Brown's home, investigators found a folder titled "13-17 year old females" with 600 images believed to be child sex abuse, according to the DA. Overall, they found 2,700 images of suspected child sex abuse on the device.
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Brown is a registered Level 2 sex offender. He was convicted in 2015 of indecent assault and battery on child under 14 years of age.
“This investigation provides an excellent example of a tech company flagging a serious crime for law enforcement and then investigators from State Police and our human trafficking and exploitation unit following that lead directly to these two individuals. This should make clear to anyone who contributes in any way to the sexual exploitation of children that they are likely to be caught and brought to justice,” District Attorney Kevin Hayden said
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