South Hadley man arraigned on 20 counts of possession of child pornography

On Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019, South Hadley Police arrested Thomas Horton, 38, of South Hadley, on a warrant issued by the Hampshire Superior Court following Horton’s indictment on 20 counts of possession of child pornography. 

Following his arrest and booking, Horton was transported to Hampshire Superior Court, where he was arraigned on the 20 indictments before Judge John Agostini.  Bail in the amount of $10,000 cash or $100,000 surety was set without prejudice with conditions to ensure no unsupervised contact with minor children if the defendant posts bail. 

The next date in court is March 2, 2020 for pretrial hearing. 

These charges stem from a lengthy investigation by the South Hadley Police Department following its receipt of a “cyber tip” from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  As part of that investigation, search warrants were obtained for digital media devices at the defendant’s residence, several of which were found to contain child pornography.  The 20 separate counts of possession of child pornography relate to 20 separate “caches” of photos and/or videos found within the defendant’s Google Photos account.

If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum potential penalty of five years in state prison for each violation of General Laws chapter 272, § 29C.