Westport Man Accused Of Possessing Child Pornography: Police

WESTPORT, CT — A 76-year-old Westport man was arrested this week on a warrant charging him with first-degree possession of child pornography, after Westport police received a "cybertip" about the suspect from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

John Minehan turned himself in at Westport Police Headquarters Monday, and was released after posting bond on bail of $150,000.

The investigation into Minehan was launched in mid-August following the tip.

"The images contained in the cybertip were confirmed child pornography, and the supplier of the cybertip provided the name of John Minehan as the person allegedly responsible for downloading the content," said Westport Police Lt. Eric Woods in a statement. "Along with the provided images and suspect name, NCMEC also provided an IP address of the device(s) used to download the content."

Westport police obtained a search warrant for Minehan's home, and did so in October and seized "several items of evidence suspected of containing child pornography."

Patch asked Woods how many devices containing the illegal content were confiscated by police, but he did not have a specific number.

"There were multiple storage devices seized," Woods said in an email to Patch.

Woods also said that he did not have the exact number of images or videos that were found, but that "statutorily it must exceed 50 for 1st degree to be charged."

Westport police then obtained an arrest warrant for Minehan, which led to him surrendering on Monday.

He is scheduled to appear in Stamford Superior Court on Dec. 8.