BOSTON — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Massachusetts), published as received.
BOSTON – A Framingham man was charged today in U.S. District Court in Boston with child pornography offenses.
Stephen John Hallissey, 37, was charged by criminal complaint with possession and receipt of child pornography. At the initial appearance in federal court before Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy, Hallissey agreed to pretrial detention, and waived his right to a preliminary hearing, at which the government would have had to establish probable cause that Hallissey committed the two charged child pornography offenses.
The affidavit filed in support of the charges alleged that Hallissey was arrested after law enforcement officers executed a federal search warrant at his Framingham home. A preliminary review of Hallissey’s computer revealed over 10,000 images and videos of child pornography. According to the affidavit, Hallissey admitted to the law enforcement officers that on a weekly basis he downloads child pornography from the Internet to his computer, and uploads child pornography from his computer to websites featuring sexually explicit content of minors.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Vincent B. Lisi, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David G. Tobin and Seth Orkand of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Boston Child Exploitation Task Force (CETF), which is comprised of members from the FBI, the Boston Police Department Child Abuse and Human Trafficking Units, the Arlington, Malden and Norwood Police Departments, the Massachusetts Department of Correction, and the Massachusetts State Police, with additional assistance provided by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.
