BOSTON -- A former TSA employee was arraigned on child pornography charges, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said Thursday.
Andrew Cheever, 33, of Lowell, was arraigned in Lowell District Court on two counts of possession of child pornography. He was ordered held on $15,000 cash bail with the conditions that he has no contact with children under the age of 18, no employment or volunteer work with children under the age of 18 and does not use a computer or the Internet.
According to investigators, on Oct. 8, Massachusetts State Police detectives conducted an investigation into the use of file-sharing programs for the possession and distribution of child pornographic images and videos. During the investigation, investigators observed a computer on the network which was sharing suspected child pornography files. Investigators were able to connect to the host computer and view multiple files of child pornography that were being made available to share.
On Oct. 15, a search warrant was executed at Cheever's home, where the suspected computer was registered, Leone said. As a result of the search warrant, multiple computers, hard drives and multiple pieces of external digital media were confiscated from the home, Leone said. An onsite preview of the computer and two external hard drives confirmed that Cheever was storing more than 10,000 child porn videos and images, Leone said.
Cheever will return to court on Jan. 13.
