Former Massachusetts School Committee member pleads guilty to child porn

BOSTON – A Provincetown man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston to distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography.

Kerry Adams, 61, pleaded guilty to one count each of distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography. U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris scheduled sentencing for July 22, 2021. In October 2019, Adams was arrested and charged by criminal complaint.

Over the course of several months in 2019, investigators engaged in a covert investigation of individuals using peer-to-peer networks for the trafficking of child pornography. In the course of that investigation, agents downloaded child pornography files on four occasions from the same computer, which was traced to Adams’s residence. On Oct. 17, 2019, investigators seized multiple devices, including laptops, thumb drives and SD cards from Adams’s residence. During the on-scene forensic review of a laptop, investigators located files containing child pornography in folders associated with peer-to-peer software installed on the computer, including the files that the undercover investigator had downloaded directly from Adams’s computer. Subsequent forensic analysis revealed hundreds of child pornography files on Adams’s devices.

Adams is a former member of the Provincetown School Committee.

The charging statutes provide for sentences of up to 20 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum term of five years on convictions for distribution and receipt of child pornography, a minimum of five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.