Amherst man, 77, faces child porn charges again

Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown

Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown FILE PHOTO

Staff Report

Published: 01-11-2024 11:48 AM

AMHERST — An Amherst man is being held at the Hampshire County Jail and House of Correction in Northampton following his arrest and arraignment this week on possession of child pornography, the second time he has been taken into custody on those charges, according to Amherst police.

Robert S. Perkins, 77, of 111 Amity St., Apartment A, was arrested at his home Jan. 4 at 9 a.m. on two counts of possession of child pornography, second offense, police said.

A news release from Amherst Detective Lt. William N. Menard states that Amherst police detectives, joined by Northampton police detectives, executed a search warrant at the home. The warrant was sought following a cyber tip sent by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to the Massachusetts State Police Internet Crimes against Children Task Force.

The tip identified multiple images flagged as depicting child sexual abuse that were affiliated with the IP address at the home. The State Police task force then sent subscriber information for the IP address to Amherst police for further investigation.

The warrant was granted Wednesday out of the Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown.

During the search, additional images were found which appeared to be child pornography, Menard said.

Perkins was previously charged with possession of child pornography and was arraigned in Hampshire Superior Court in November 2019. At that time, Amherst police executed a search warrant under which they seized and searched four devices, including thumb drives and a laptop.

Amherst police allegedly discovered hundreds of images and web searches associated with child pornography on the seized devices.

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It was unclear last week if that case had been resolved.