A Belfast man who worked with developmentally disabled children has been arrested and charged with possession of sexually explicit material.
Gregory Lafortune, 44, was arrested on Friday, according to Glenn Lang, a detective with the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit.
Some of the images police allegedly found at Lafortune’s home were of young children, Lang said Wednesday, but there is no indication that he was creating the pornographic images.
“We have nothing to indicate he was producing the stuff that I’ve seen so far,” the detective said. “That could still come out, but I think it’s unlikely. There are no hallmarks of a production case here.”
The investigation began last September, Lang said, after an internet service provider alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that explicit images of children were being shared on a social media platform. Maine State Police investigators are not identifying the social media platform or the name of Lafortune’s employer.
“What they do is a rough geographic locate,” Lang said. “You can look at the IP [internet protocol] address and get some idea of where it’s coming from. Once we got the referral, we looked at it. We had to confirm that the material was, in fact, contraband. And yes, it’s actionable child pornography.”
Lang’s unit sent a grand jury subpoena to the local internet service provider to discover the user’s address and then drafted a search warrant for Lafortune’s home. Because police learned that Lafortune works with children, they acted assertively, Lang said.
“Because of his occupation, the supervisor decided we probably needed to arrest him so he would not have further contact with children,” Lang said. “We err on the side of caution when it comes to protecting kids.”
After Lafortune’s arrest, he was taken to Waldo County’s 72-hour correctional holding facility in Belfast, where he was booked and then released from police custody on $100 cash bail.
If you or someone you know needs resources or support related to sexual violence, contact the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s 24/7 hotline at 800-871-7741.