Community

Youth Suicide Prevention Project Manager arrested on child pornography charges last week has died

Published

on

A Youth Suicide Prevention Project Manager arrested on child pornography charges last week has died.

Colonel Darnell S. Weaver, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police and Director of the Department of Public Safety, announces last week that members of the Rhode Island State Police/Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force arrested Jeffrey Hill, age 46, of Wakefield, Rhode Island for Possession of Child Pornography and Child Erotica Prohibited. Hill was identified as the Youth Suicide Prevention Project Manager at the Rhode Island Department of Health.

According to the Boston Globe, interim Health Director Dr. James McDonald announced the death of Hill this morning in an email.

“It is with a very heavy heart that I am sharing the news of the recent unexpected passing of our colleague and friend, Jeff Hill,” McDonald wrote in the email.

ICAC Task Force members recently initiated an investigation regarding an individual uploading child pornography to an email server. The Internet connection at Hill’s home was identified as allegedly being connected to the uploads of child pornography. ICAC Task Force members executed a court-authorized search warrant and arrest warrant at the Wakefield residence and arrested Hill. Hill had been previously identified as the owner and user of the email being investigated and an arrest warrant had been signed by a judge charging him with Possession of Child Pornography and Child Erotica Prohibited.

Hill was arraigned at Fourth Division District Court before Associate Judge Caruolo and held on $5,000 surety bail, which he subsequently posted. Hill was ordered additional special bail conditions which included no unsupervised contact with minors and restricted internet access.

The state lists suicide prevention information on its website including calling 911, The Samaritans at (401) 272-4044 or (800) 365-4044, or the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at (800) 273-TALK or (800) 273-8255.

3 Comments

  1. Ellen Goulart

    June 13, 2022 at 7:21 pm

    Another incomplete story, what did he say about the charges? what did he die of? How much proof did the authorities have of his involvement…. this news is like a tabloid headline… or clickbait. A little more professionalism, please

    • Ken Paiva

      June 13, 2022 at 7:45 pm

      The interim said nothing about the charges that we saw. What he died of hasn’t been announced yet, and it states what they had on him. If you are looking for more details than what police provided, that typically happens at trial which of course will now not happen. There is speculation on how he died, but I’m not going to post speculation.

    • Jake Perry

      June 14, 2022 at 7:24 am

      I thought this story was pretty straight forward with a good amount of detail. Sometimes people have a hard time comprehending what they read. If you need more then maybe you ought to call Colonel Darnell S. Weaver and ask him.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Trending

Exit mobile version