High school teacher guilty of possession of child pornography

BOSTON – A Narraganset School District high school math teacher pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to receipt and possession of child pornography.

Warren Anderson, 27, of Lowell and Harvard, pleaded guilty to one count each of receipt and possession of child pornography. U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs scheduled sentencing for Oct. 16, 2019.

As part of an ongoing investigation into the online trade of child pornography through the use of Kik messenger, law enforcement interviewed Anderson in August 2018. Anderson admitted accessing sites on the dark web to obtain child pornography, and forensic analysis of his computers revealed that he had thousands of files of child pornography, and that he had used both Kik and a dark web-based messaging platform to discuss and trade child pornography.

The charge of receipt of child pornography provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and up to 20 years in prison. The charge of possession of child pornography provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Both charges also provide for a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 fine. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Jason Molina, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations, made the announcement today. Assistance was provided by the Harvard and Templeton Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Paruti, Lelling’s Project Safe Childhood Coordinator and a member of the Major Crimes Unit, is prosecuting the case.

The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims.