A former longtime Massachusetts police officer has been arraigned on suspicion of possession of child porn.
Eric S. Smith, 63, of Kingston, is a retired officer who spent 36 years with the Brockton Police Department. He retired in April 2016 having been with the force since 1980, reported The Patriot Ledger.
Smith was arraigned in Plymouth District Court on Wednesday, July 23 after allegedly being found with images of child pornography on his laptop and a thumb drive.
The indecent images were found after Massachusetts State Police and Kingston police executed a search warrant at Smith's home on Tuesday.
Smith allegedly had more than 80 explicit images on his laptop and thumb drive, according to a police report filed with Plymouth District court.
After a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf, Judge Franco GoBourne set the 63-year-old's bail at $1,000, which was posted.
GoBourne also ordered Smith to stay away from all schools in the state and to not have any children with children under the age of 16.
According to The Enterprise, Smith's Kingston home is located near Silver Lake Regional High School.
The investigation into Smith was launched after The Massachusetts State Police Cyber Crime Unit received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in relation to his internet history. The investigation is ongoing.
Following his retirement in 2016, Smith told The Enterprise that he will still continue to tell people to "stay out of trouble" as he had done during his long policing career.
Smith is due back in court for a pretrial conference on October 8.
Kingston Police have been contacted for comment.
This week, a police officer in Maryland pleaded guilty today to possession of child pornography and will be sentenced to at least four years in jail.
James Robert Wissmann, 35, of the Baltimore City Police Department, had been suspended from the force following a search of his home on July 31, 2019.
According to the District Attorney's office, Wissmann admitted using fake names and fake email addresses to create an account on a mobile application that allows users to join a "room" where they can watch videos, share indecent files and discuss the sexual exploitation of children online.
Wissmann took steps to avoid detection by the online platforms and law enforcement, including using a Virtual Private Network account and the Tor anonymity network, which allows users to conceal their location, usage, and identity.
U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III has scheduled a sentencing for Wissmann on October 15.
