BOSTON, May 19, 2014—A Beacon Hill man was arraigned late last week for possession of child pornography after allegedly leaving a thumb drive containing explicit images in a co-worker’s car, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

PAUL FEST (D.O.B. 12/12/70) was arraigned Friday in the Boston Municipal Court on one count of possession of child pornography after a month long investigation by Boston Police and Suffolk prosecutors.  Assistant District Attorney Gerry Cahill of the DA’s Child Protection Unit requested that bail be set in the amount of $25,000 and that Fest be ordered to wear a GPS monitor, have no unsupervised contact with children under 16, not reside with children under 16, neither work nor volunteer where he would have contact with children unless approved in advance by the Department of Probation, not remain within 1,000 feet of schools or other locations where children regularly congregate, not allow any other person access to his computer or other devices, not use the internet, and undergo random searches of his computers, electronic devices, and other digital media in the event he is released on bail. 

Judge Annette Forde released Fest on his own recognizance and granted the majority of the requested conditions.  She declined to order Fest not to use the internet or to undergo random searches of his computer and electronic devices.

According to prosecutors, an employee of the Boston Children’s Museum approached Boston Police and Suffolk prosecutors on April 9 after discovering an unfamiliar thumb drive in her car, plugging it into a computer, and finding that it contained apparent images of child pornography. This employee told investigators that she allowed some co-workers – including Fest – to use her car for errands and did not know who the owner of the thumb drive was.

During the course of an investigation, Boston Police detectives obtained Fest’s permission to search his home computer and discovered that it, like the thumb drive, contained images depicting sexualized images of children, prosecutors said.  During a post-Miranda interview, Fest allegedly made statements admitting to possession of child pornography.

Fest is not accused of committing an offense involving contact with any child at the museum or elsewhere. He was represented by attorney Timothy Nolan and will return to court on Aug. 1.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.