Men Facing Child Porn Charges Previously Unknown To Police

ROCHESTER, N.H. -- Police said two child poography arrests in Rochester in one week were not related, but they said parents can lea lessons from the cases.

Edmond Michaud, 41, was arrested Wednesday and charged with possession of child poography. David Barker, 38, was arrested Feb. 2 and charged with distributing child poography.

Rochester police said parents should be aware of the dangers of child poography because neither man was on the radar of law enforcement officials until they came into contact with police online.

"These suspects are people that could be your neighbors or relatives," said Capt. Paul Callaghan. "They may not have a criminal history."

Police said there's nothing to indicate Michaud was physically abusing any children or producing any child po, but detectives said he sent child po to investigators online.

"And he downloaded photos of children being sexually abused to the Massachusetts State Police," Callaghan said.

Police said Bay State investigators tipped off detectives in New Hampshire, leading to a search of Michaud's home on Main Street in Gonic.

"They conducted a search and preliminarily they've uncovered dozens of images of children being sexually abused, and based on that, he was arrested on scene," Callaghan said.

Investigators said in court documents that police found two computers and graphic images of children inside Michaud's home. The documents also say Michaud admitted to storing child po and downloading it using a file-sharing program.

Police said Michaud is married, lives with his wife and has been working at a Dunkin' Donuts location in Portsmouth for the past 11 years.

Michaud told police he previously worked for the University of New Hampshire, and UNH confirmed he was a building service worker from 1988 to 1999.

Michaud is being held on $25,000 cash bail. A probable cause hearing is scheduled for Feb. 17 at 1 p.m.