Call firefighter charged with child porn-related offenses
Jul. 7—NEWBURY — A Great Barrington volunteer firefighter charged with numerous child pornography-related offenses posted $10,000 cash bail following his arraignment in Newburyport District Court.
Christopher Lovett, 39, of Housatonic is due back in court Aug. 26 for a pretrial hearing after he was arraigned Friday. He faces four counts of sending obscene matter to a minor and distributing obscene matter. His arrest at his home July 1 came after Newbury, Georgetown and Salisbury police officials built a case against him, according to court records.
A Newbury police official said Lovett was arrested by police in his town and was released so he could appear at the Newburyport courthouse.
Newbury police records show that Lovett allegedly sent obscene videos of himself to who he thought was a 13-year-old girl but was actually a Newbury police detective. Court records show Lovett was also chatting with an undercover Salisbury police officer but no charges have been filed yet.
Months before Lovett's arrest, Newbury police Detective Sgt. Aaron Wojtkowski was conducting "pro-active undercover investigations into the online solicitation and enticement of children" on a social media app commonly used by online offenders who target children.
On May 18, Lovett sent a message to Wojtkowski while both were in a public chat room called "Massachusetts Tween." Wojtkowski had noticed Lovett's profile because it featured photos of Great Barrington fire trucks and because Lovett mentioned being employed as a firefighter.
"I indicated to the user the UC (undercover) persona was 13 years of age. Despite being told he was communicating with a 13-year-old child, the user made no attempt to stop contact," Wojtkowski wrote in his report.
In the days and weeks that followed, Lovett sent Wojtkowski more sexual messages and clothed photos of himself. He also requested that the "child" send him photos he could use as "motivation."
"Lovett engaged in behaviors typical of online offenders who groom children for illicit sexual conduct, including in my opinion using his position of a firefighter to do so," Wojtkowski wrote in his report.
In late June, Lovett sent Wojtkowski two video files of him performing a sexual act on himself.
"The aforementioned obscene media files sent by Mr. Lovett were obscene and/or harmful in nature," Wojtkowski wrote in his report.
Wojtkowski, with assistance from Salisbury and Georgetown police, were able to track down Lovett's phone number and, with the aid of a subpoena, information linked to the account he used on the social media app, according to the detective's report.
A phone call to the Great Barrington Fire Department was not returned.
Dave Rogers is a reporter with the Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.
