Children's Museum Employee Charged With Possession Of Child Porn

BOSTON (CBS) --  A long-time facilities coordinator at Boston Children's Museum has been charged with child pornography after allegedly leaving a thumb drive containing explicit images in a co-worker's car.

Paul Fest, 43, was arraigned Friday in the Boston Municipal Court on one count of possession of child pornography after a month-long investigation by Boston Police and Suffolk prosecutors.

According to prosecutors, an employee of the museum approached Boston Police and Suffolk prosecutors on April 9 after discovering an unfamiliar thumb drive in her car, plugging it into a computer, and finding that it contained apparent images of child pornography. The employee told investigators that she allowed some co-workers – including Fest – to use her car for errands and did not know who the owner of the thumb drive was.

During the course of an investigation, Fest allowed Boston Police detectives to search his home computer and child pornography was found. Fest later admitted to having child pornography, prosecutors said.

Judge Annette Forde released Fest on his own recognizance and ordered him to wear a GPS monitor, have no unsupervised contact with children under 16, not work where he would have contact with children, stay 1,000 feet from schools or where children congregate and not allow anyone else access to his computer.

On Monday, the Children's Museum released the following statement, noting Fest has been terminated from the museum.

Late Thursday afternoon, Boston Children's Museum learned from the Boston Police that Paul Fest, a longtime facilities coordinator at the museum, had been arrested on charges
of possessing child pornography. These allegations are deeply disturbing, and after we learned of his arrest we immediately terminated Mr. Fest. Mr. Fest's duties at the museum involved coordinating the facilities set-up and breakdown of various museum events. The single most important priority of Boston Children's Museum is the safety and care of
our visitors. This is a very concerning matter, and we are cooperating fully with the Boston Police in connection with their ongoing investigation.