Attleboro Man Charged With Possession Of Child Pornography

BOSTON – The office manager of a sober house in Attleboro was charged today with possessing child pornography.

Michael Paterson, 53, was charged via a criminal complaint with possession of child pornography. Paterson remains in custody and is scheduled for a probable cause detention hearing on April 18, 2014 in the U.S. District Court in Worcester.

The criminal complaint alleges that Paterson was observed viewing child pornography by a resident of the sober house on two occasions. A search warrant was executed at the residence and uncovered multiple computers, CPU units, hard drives, thumb drives, CDs, DVDs, and printers containing pictures of children being sexually exploited. Additionally, a lock-box containing a black stun gun and $71,502 was seized. A second search warrant was executed on Paterson’s car and multiple computer storage devices, printed images of children being sexually exploited, and $1500 was recovered.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Shelly Binkowski, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Attleboro Police Chief Kyle P. Heagney, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Kenneth G. Shine of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.

The details contained in the criminal complaint are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.