Maine customs officer indicted on child porn charge

6 years ago

A U.S. customs officer in Houlton faces a federal child pornography charge.

Larry O’Neal, 44, was indicted on Feb. 15 for one felony count of possession of child pornography, according to documents filed in federal court.

He is accused of having amassed a large collection of sexually explicit images of children, some of them violent in nature, on his personal computer, according to documents.

He pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Bangor on Feb. 22.

CBP spokeswoman Stephanie Malin declined to comment on the case, but said the agency “is fully cooperating with the FBI and [Department of Homeland Security] Office of the Inspector General regarding this investigation.”

Homeland Security agents started investigating O’Neal in early January when they traced a downloaded file of suspected child pornography to an IP address at his house in Houlton, according to an arrest affidavit. The agency frequently investigates child pornography cases because the material often crosses international borders via the internet, as in O’Neal’s case, according to a criminal complaint.

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