CONNECTICUT/NEW YORK
Fox 61
BY DOUG STEWART AND TONY TERZI
WEST HAVEN — Following a nearly 10-month investigation, police have arrested Brother Thomas Sawyer, 73, of Valatie, New York. Sawyer is a member of an international catholic order, and investigators says he may have downloaded thousands of photos of naked children.
Sawyer, a longtime Catholic educator in many schools across the country, lived at West Haven’s St. John Vianney Church. Police were alerted to his activity by another member of the clergy “who witnessed some images on a computer as he entered the room,” said Sgt. David Tammaro, spokesperson for the West Haven Police Department.
Some 427 images, most of preteen males, were recovered by police, who say 250 is the threshold at which it becomes a felony. Thursday, Sawyer posted $25,000 bond after being charged with possession of child pornography in the first degree.
Tammaro says they are working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to determine if any of these children are from Connecticut.
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