North Shore sex offender had hundreds of photos, videos of child porn on his phone, police say
Authorities arrested a convicted sex offender on Wednesday for allegedly storing hundreds of pictures and videos of child sex abuse material on his phone.
Kenneth Higgins, 45, of Revere, is charged with possession of child pornography and possession of child pornography, his third offense.
Massachusetts State Police say Higgins is a Level 2 sex offender with multiple prior convictions for possessing child sexual abuse materials and was on probation following a 2008 prison sentence for a child pornography conviction.
According to officials, the latest arrest stemmed from an investigation by the State Police Detective Unit for Suffolk County and the State Police Cyber Crime Unit, who say they received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) who found an IP address with access to several pictures of child porn.
Troopers, with assistance from Revere detectives, executed a search warrant at Higgins’s Revere Beach Parkway apartment and found a phone the alleged IP address was connected to. Police say Higgins refused to give up his passcode to gain access to the phone, but investigators retrieved the phone’s memory card per the search warrant and allegedly found hundreds of images and videos of child sexual abuse.
In the same investigation, authorities executed a separate search warrant at 165 Hawthorne Street in Chelsea, which allegedly belongs to a friend of Higgins’s. Several electronic devices were seized from the apartment and will be analyzed by investigators.
Higgins was arrested and arraigned in Chelsea District Court on Wednesday afternoon. He was held without bail for violating his probation by re-offending, State Police say.
Additional charges may be filed against the resident of the Chelsea apartment pending the Cyber Crime Unit’s investigation.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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