Westfield Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography

BOSTON—A Westfield man was convicted today in U.S. District Court in Springfield for possession of child pornography.

Richard Starr, 56, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William G. Young to possession of material involving the sexual exploitation of minors. Sentencing is scheduled for May 9, 2013. The maximum sentence under the statute is 10 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

While federal agents were conducting a consensual interview with Starr at his residence, he admitted that he had requested files from a child pornography-related website. In response to agents’ request to search Starr’s computers for child pornography, he responded, “Chances are, you’ll find something.” Starr subsequently did not consent to the search, so agents contacted the Westfield Police Department, who obtained a state search warrant for the residence and proceeded to seize multiple computers and computer media. The FBI conducted a forensic examination of the computer media and discovered tens of thousands of digital images and video files depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Many of these files were located in folders that contained suggestive or explicit titles, such as “Candydolls,” and “eternal-nymphets.”

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of Federal Bureau of Investigation Boston Field Division; and Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today. The case was investigated with the assistance of the Westfield Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow of Ortiz’s Springfield Branch Office.