Peabody Man Sentenced to Prison on Child Porn Charges

PEABODY, MA – A Peabody man was sentenced to prison Wednesday after pleading guilty in June to receiving and possessing child porn.

Patrick Lynch, 24, was sentenced to six years in prison and 10 years of supervised release. Upon release, Lynch must register as a sex offender.

Prosecutors said that beginning in May 2013, Lynch began receiving emails containing images and videos of children as young as one year old being sexually exploited.

In December of the following year, officers executed a search warrant of his residence; during the search, Lynch admitted to officers that he viewed images of child pornography on a website and on his laptop while at a Boy Scout camp in New Mexico, communicated online with children and exchanged sexually explicit images, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

He also told officers he received emails containing pictures of elementary school-aged children naked, posing and engaging in sexual acts, the U.S. Attorney's office said. Prior to the execution of the search warrant, prosecutors said Lynch deleted the application and cleared his phone’s internet search history.

He pleaded guilty in June to one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

Lynch had been employed at the Greater Beverly YMCA and had recently begun working at the Beanstalk Adventure Ropes Course in Reading at the time of his arrest, authorities said.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative created to protect children from exploitation and abuse.

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