Crime & Safety

Child Porn In Arlington: Former Newton Daycare Worker Indicted

An Arlington man who has previously been arrested for possessing child porn was indicted by a Grand Jury, DA Marian Ryan announced today.

ARLINGTON, MA — An Arlington man who was arrested in July on Child Pornography charges for the second time in two years was just indicted by a grand jury in Woburn sometime between August 3 and September 20.

Mason Lister, 22, of Lancaster Road in Arlington, was charged with possession of child pornography (2 counts), subsequent offense, and distribution of child pornography. The Assistant District Attorney is Katharine Folger.

In July Arlington Police arrested Lister - a former Newton daycare worker who'd been arrested on similar charges last year - and charged him with possession and distribution of child pornography.

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Police noted he was "known to Police," which is often police speak for they'd had interactions with him in the past. In fact, last year Patch reported police alleged that Lister, a former Newton daycare worker, who did not work with children, traded obscene images of children using social media platforms. He formerly worked at Family ACCESS day care on Waltham Street in Newton.

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In July members of the Arlington Police Criminal Investigation Bureau working with the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force served a search warrant at his home and found a cell phone with several images of what they described as child pornography. Police said Lister allegedly used the social networking website Skout.com to trade explicit images of children.

"The Arlington Police Department takes an extremely strong stance on child exploitation, and we dedicate resources to not only finding missing and exploited children, but also rooting out those who create, distribute, or possess depictions of child sexual abuse," Chief Ryan said. "We will continue to pursue these felons in an aggressive manner."

These are allegations. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty.

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