1700 Images Found: Bfd Man Charged with Child Porn Possession
After a police investigation led to finding some 1700 child pornography images on his computer, a 67 year-old Branford man was arrested yesterday and charged on a warrant with Possession of Child Pornography.
The resident, Frank Cole, lives at 148 East Main St., which is just a few doors away from Branford High School, located at 185 East Main St. Branford police said none of the images found on Cole's computer have been determined to be connected to Branford area children.
According to a Branford Police press release today, an arrest warrant was issued for Cole following an investigation in late 2014. Lead Branford Detective Arthur Ferris said Cole's computer was seized by police, then analyzed by the Connecticut State Police Forensic Laboratory, uncovering approximately 1700 images.
Det. Ferris said from those images, Branford detectives worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and were able to identify approximately 50 children, with many located in other countries.
"As far as we can determine, none of the photos have been connected to any children in Branford," he said.
Cole was released on $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court March 15.
Branford Police Captain Geoffrey Morgan confirmed for Zip06 today that the seizure and subsequent forensic analysis of Cole's computer was undertaken following an earlier investigation and arrest involving Cole.
In July 2015, Branford Police arrested Cole on a warrant and charged him with First-Degree Sexual Assualt, Second-Degree Sexual Assault and Risk of Injury to a minor. The charges were made following a police investigation into a May, 2014 complaint from an 18 year-old victim alleging Cole had sexually assaulted him over a period of time, from June 2011 through Jan. 2014.
See that arrest report at: http://www.zip06.com/news/20150724/bfd-man-charged-with-sexual-assault-of-juvenile-from-2011-14