NH Man Charged With Possession of Child Pornography in Lempster

On Friday March 12, 2021 members of the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force comprised of investigators from the New Hampshire State Police, Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, Cheshire County Sheriff’s Office, and Grafton County Sherriff’s Office with the support of the Lempster Fire Department and Newport Police Department executed a search warrant at 23 Unity Springs Road located in the Town of Lempster, N.H.

This investigation initiated with a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which indicated the illegal use of computers and alleged possession and/or distribution of sexual abuse images of prepubescent children from within this residence.

As a result of this search, Christopher Ferland, DOB: 09/01/2001, was arrested and is currently charged with ten (10) counts of Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Images (Class A Felony) pursuant to NH RSA 649-A:3 and/or 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B). Additional charges may be forthcoming pending the forensic analysis of the digital evidence seized during this investigation.

This investigation is ongoing; however, investigators believe that Mr. Ferland has only had very limited unsupervised in-person exposure to children. We asking the public to report any odd or suspicious behaviors that they may have observed regarding Mr. Ferland.

Anyone who may have useful information regarding this investigation, are asked to please contact Detective Sergeant Michael McLaughlin at (603) 419-0130 / Michael.McLaughlin@dos.nh.gov or Detective William Neilsen at (603) 931-0854, William.Neilsen@dos.nh.gov.

Mr. Ferland is expected to appear before the Sullivan County Superior Court on Monday March 15th for an arraignment and is currently being held at the Sullivan County House of Corrections.

“The mission of the NH ICAC Task Force is to protect the State of New Hampshire’s children through the continued enforcement of laws designed to prevent the manufacturing and distribution of child sexual abuse images.”