Paul Estus Initial Appearance

PROVIDENCE – A Westerly man convicted in 2015 for possession of child pornography and sentenced to 36 months in federal prison was ordered detained today by U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Sullivan on a federal criminal complaint charging him with possession of child pornography.

In September 2015, Paul Estus, 71, having previously admitted to the Court to possessing more than 600 images of child pornography, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., to 36 months in federal prison, to be followed by 5 years supervised release. A condition of Estus’ supervised release required him to submit to unannounced examination of his electronic devices.

According to court documents, on August 15, 2018, United States Probation Officers conducted a home visit at Estus’ Westerly residence. During the unannounced visit, Probation Officers inspected two cell phones owned by Estus and allegedly discovered images of child pornography on both phones. The phones were seized for further analysis.

A court-authorized forensic examination of the cell phones by a Warwick Police Detective assigned to the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force allegedly revealed 273 images of child pornography and 15 videos of child pornography.

Estus was arrested earlier today.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The arrest of Estus and the filing of a criminal complaint charging Estus with possession of child pornography are announced by United States Attorney Stephen G. Dambruch, Chief U.S. Probation Officer John A. Marshall, and Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division.

            The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee H. Vilker.

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