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“Massachusetts State Police detectives today arrested a Revere man after an investigation uncovered hundreds of images and videos of child sexual abuse material on his mobile phone.
Troopers charged KENNETH HIGGINS, 45, with possession of child pornography and possession of child pornography, third offense.
HIGGINS, who is classified as a Level 2 Sex Offender, has multiple prior convictions for possession of child sexual abuse materials; he is currently on probation imposed following a prison sentence he served for a 2008 child pornography conviction.
Massachusetts State Police photo.
Today’s charges stemmed from an investigation by the State Police Detective Unit for Suffolk County and the State Police Cyber Crime Unit that began recently as a result of a cyber tip provided by Yahoo to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The tip included several picture files depicting child pornography and data related to the IP address that accessed the picture files. NCMEC referred the tip to MSP.
Early this morning Troopers from the State Police Detective Unit and the State Police Cyber Crime Unit, with assistance from a Revere Police detective, executed a search warrant at HIGGINS’ Revere Beach Parkway apartment, where they located his phone. HIGGINS refused to provide a passcode to access the phone, but a Trooper was able to retrieve its memory card per the court authorized search. The hundreds of images and videos of child sexual abuse material were extracted from the card.
HIGGINS was placed under arrest and transported to the State Police-Revere Barracks for processing. After he was booked he was brought to Chelsea District Court for arraignment, and was ordered held without bail for violating his probation from the previous case by re-offending.
As part of the same investigation Troopers this morning executed a separate search warrant on an apartment at 165 Hawthorne St., Chelsea, the residence of a friend of HIGGINS. Troopers seized several electronic devices from that apartment, which will be analyzed by the Cyber Crime Unit.
Charges may be filed against the resident of that apartment depending on the results of the Cyber Crime Unit’s examination of the devices. HIGGINS’ booking photo from today’s arrest is included with this release.”-Massachusetts State Police.
