Patrick Lynch, Child Pornography Charges, Massachusetts 2016

Peabody Man Guilty of Child Pornography Charges

BOSTON – A Peabody man has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to receipt and possession of child pornography.

Patrick Lynch, 24, pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

According to court documents, Lynch began receiving emails containing images and videos of children as young as one year old being sexually exploited in May 2013. On December 12, 2014, during the execution of a search warrant at his residence, Lynch admitted to law enforcement officers that he received emails containing pictures of elementary school-aged children naked, posing, and engaging in sexual acts.

Lynch admitted to viewing images of child pornography on a website and to viewing child pornography on his laptop while at a Boy Scout camp in New Mexico. He also communicated online with children and exchanged sexually explicit images.

Prior to law enforcement executing the search warrant, Lynch deleted the application and cleared his phone’s Internet history. An investigation revealed that Lynch had been employed at the Greater Beverly YMCA and had recently begun employment with Beanstalk Adventure Ropes Course in Reading, Mass.

Lynch faces a mandatory minimum term of five years and up to 20 years in prison for the charge of receipt of child pornography, and up to 20 years in prison for the charge of possession of child pornography. Both statutes also provide for a mandatory minimum of five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus of U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.

This case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims.

U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Matthew Etre, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today. Assistance was also provided by the Massachusetts State Police and the Peabody Police Department.

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