City Of Boston Employee Held On $20K Cash Bail For Child Porn Charges

BOSTON (CBS) - A city employee was ordered held on $20,000 cash bail after his arraignment on child pornography charges Monday.

James Mansfield, 47, of Charlestown was arrested last week after police received a "cybertip" alleging he was engaging in graphically sexual chats and exchanging pictures of underage boys. Over 100 photographs of children under age 16 were later found on his laptop and on a portable flash drive, prosecutors said.

Mansfield is charged with two counts of possessing child pornography, a felony punishable by up to five years in state prison.

Mansfield, an Executive Assistant in the Boston Transportation Department for about 28 years, has been placed on unpaid Administrative leave

Charlestown District Court Judge Lawrence McCormick said Mansfield must reside only at his family home if he posts bail and have no contact with children under age 18.

Mansfield will also be fitted with a GPA monitoring device.

"These charges and the facts that support them just shock the conscience,"Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said in a statement. "They're a reminder of the insidious nature of child pornography, the harm it causes to its victims, and our duty to protect those innocents from further exploitation."