A 41-year-old Massachusetts high school special education teacher has been indicted by a federal grand jury for child pornography offenses, the Department of Justice announced on Friday. Thomas Davis faces charges for receiving and possessing child pornography depicting children as young as 4 years old. He allegedly admitted downloading the illicit images from the encrypted messaging app Telegram.
FBI Special Agent Derek Back wrote in an affidavit that the feds first became aware of Davis in July.
“On or about July 1, 2021, an individual reported to the FBI that a man subsequently identified as DAVIS had displayed a video depicting DAVIS having sexual intercourse with another person who appeared to the reporting individual to be approximately middle-school aged. DAVIS told the reporting individual that DAVIS was a teacher and that the minor was one of his students. Through subsequent investigation, law enforcement confirmed DAVIS’s identity and confirmed that he did, in fact, appear to be a teacher at Foxborough High School,” the Aug. 26 complaint said.
When questioned by the feds during an interview, the Mansfield resident allegedly claimed the young male in the video reported by the tipster was 18 years old.
“I viewed the video; it depicts DAVIS (his face is visible in part of the approximately 20-minute video) and a young male who appears to be a teenager, and whose face is visible in portions of the video, engaged in sexual activity, including intercourse and oral sex. DAVIS was questioned about the video and admitted that he was the adult male depicted in the video,” Back’s affidavit continued. “DAVIS claimed the young male in the video was 18 years old and that they had met on a particular social media and dating application. DAVIS provided what he believed to be the young male’s first name and what he believed to be the town where the young male lived. Investigation into the identity of the young male continues.”
The FBI said that the interview began after Davis was read his Miranda rights. During the same interview, the feds said that Davis admitted to possessing child porn on his computer. Investigators said Davis gave them his computer password.
“During the interview, DAVIS admitted that there was child pornography on his computer. He provided law enforcement with the password to his computer. DAVIS explained that he downloaded child pornography onto his computer by going to an app called ‘Telegram,’ from which he was able to download child pornography from the cloud. DAVIS denied ever touching a child in a sexually inappropriate manner,” the documents continued.
The feds alleged that around 40 images of child pornography were found in a folder on Davis’s MacBook Pro. The disturbing images allegedly showed children as young as 4 years old (the FBI said the children were “approximately four to six years old” and “approximately seven to eight years old”). The complaint described child porn images of boys being sexually abused by adult men. All of the children were under the age of 12, the feds said.
The DOJ said in press release on Friday that the “charge of receipt of child pornography provides for a sentence of at least five years and up to 20 years in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.”
“The charge of possession of child pornography provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000,” the DOJ press release added.
Davis was placed on unpaid leave from Foxborough High School after he was arrested and charged by complaint in August.
[Image via WCVB screengrab]
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