Former Fall River man pleads not guilty to child porn charges

A former Fall River man pleaded not guilty to child pornography charges Thursday.

According to WPRI 12 News the judge ruled that Miguel Pereira should be held on $5,000 bail, and he was ordered to have no access to computers and no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 14, outside of his 4-year-old daughter. According to court documents, Pereira, who was a lifelong resident of Fall River before he recently moved, is no longer wanted at home by his wife.

According to Somerset Police, at about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Pereira was arrested at Somerset-Berkley Regional High School. Pereira was a custodian at the school and is being charged with dissemination of child pornography and possession of child pornography.

The investigation into this case began with investigators from the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force locating child pornography being shared from the suspect’s IP address. A search warrant was executed at his home prior to his arrest.

According to a post on her Facebook page, Melissa Terra of the Somerset School Committee stated that Chief McNeil said that K12 students were not part of pornographic material confiscated.

Somerset Berkley Superintendent Jeffrey Schoonover sent the following e-mail to parents of the school:

“Dear Families,

As many of you have heard the disturbing news, a high school custodian was arrested last night at SBRHS on charges of possessing and disseminating child pornography. The Somerset Police Department has confirmed that, at this time, there does not appear to be any involvement of any high school student. The custodian has been placed on leave pending the District’s receipt of further information regarding the status of this matter.

The custodian, who was hired approximately five weeks ago, worked the weekday shift from 3:00 PM – 11:00 PM. Employment in the Somerset Berkley Regional School District is contingent upon a successful background check, which includes a state CORI and a national fingerprint background check. All hiring procedures were appropriately followed for this individual.

I want to thank the Somerset Police Department and other law enforcement officials from the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force who worked on this investigation.”