Walpole Man Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charges

From the Attorney General's Office:

A Walpole man has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to nine months in jail in connection with sexually exploiting a child and possessing child pornography on personal devices kept at his home and his state office, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

Michael Kickham, 54, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Suffolk Superior Court to two counts of posing a child in a state of nudity and two counts of possession of child pornography. Judge Kenneth Fishman sentenced Kickham to serve nine months in the house of correction followed by five years of probation. The AG’s Office recommended a sentence of two to three years in state prison followed by five years of probation.

Kickham was arrested in February 2016. An investigation in October 2015 after receiving information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) about an online account that had allegedly uploaded an image of child pornography. Investigators traced the online accounts to Kickham.

On Jan. 27, 2016, State Police assigned to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office executed a search warrant authorizing the search of all computers and storage devices found in Kickham’s Walpole residence. Based on information learned during the execution of that warrant, officials later executed a second search warrant authorizing the search of all computers and storage devices at his then office in the Administrative Office of the Juvenile Court. The case was also referred to Massachusetts State Police assigned to the AG’s Office. Subsequent investigation of devices seized revealed alleged images of child pornography and evidence of posing children in a state of nudity.

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