PORTLAND, Maine — Two days after a Portland man was indicted by the Cumberland County grand jury on 110 counts of possession and distributing child pornography, state police on Thursday announced the arrests or indictments of 11 additional individuals as part of a monthslong investigation known as “Operation Broken Heart III.”
Glenn Strout, 53, of Portland was indicted last week on 22 counts of Class B felony dissemination of sexually explicit material involving children younger than 12 years old and 88 counts of Class C felony possession of sexually explicit materials involving children younger than 12 years old.
Strout initially was arrested Dec. 11, 2015, and charged with a single count of possession of sexually explicit materials of children younger than 12.
On March 10, Strout again was arrested by Portland police for violating his bail conditions after officers allegedly found him in possession of computers, Assistant Police Chief Vern Malloch said at the time.
State police announced Thursday that Operation Broken Heart III was part of a nationwide effort involving internet Crimes Against Children task forces coordinated by the U.S. Department of Justice.
During April and May, Maine State Police investigators executed 35 search warrants in Addison, Brewer, Carthage, Gardiner, Greene, Greenville, Lewiston, Lisbon and Portland, resulting in the arrest or indictment of 12 people, including Strout.
Among them, Nicholas Henry, 31, of Carthage was arrested April 11 in Gray and charged with possessing sexually explicit material of someone younger than 12 after a tip led police to search a computer, which contained thousands of pornographic images of young girls, state police said at the time.
Chadd Miller, 38, of Greenville was arrested the following day at his home after investigators received a tip and found 10 videos on his laptop containing sexually explicit material of someone under the age of 12, state police said at the time.
More arrests are expected, according to a release from Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
State police Lt. Glenn Lang, head of the Maine Computer Crimes Unit, said the 18 members of his division are dealing with a backlog of computer examinations from prior investigations, and the work in April and May deepened that backlog.
“I was impressed by the commitment of our investigators and staffers during ‘Operation Broken Heart III,’ and we continue to be dedicated to protect children from those who prey upon them,” Lang said in the release.