by CHRISTINE CHARNOSKY
Correspondent
WESTFIELD – After spending a weekend in jail, Eric S. Jenney, was released on Monday with strict orders from the judge to follow a long list of pretrial release conditions.
Jenney, 45, of Westfield, was released after paying $5,000 personal surety pending an August 7 hearing to be held in Westfield District Court.
On Friday, Jenney had been arraigned on the following charges: three counts of possession of child pornography, three counts of possessing a firearm without a Firearms Identification (FID) card and one count of improper storage of a firearm, brought by Westfield police.
As part of an ongoing investigation, officers had executed a search warrant of Jenney’s residence on June 25 and found images of child pornography on his personal computer (Dell hard drive), a Sony camera’s scan disc card and on a thumb drive.
The pornography charges include videos of sex with children under 10 including what police believe to be a very explicit situation involving the defendant with a minor child, according to court records.
The Commonwealth had filed an affidavit in support of pretrial detention, but on Friday during a bail hearing, Westfield District Court Judge Philip Contant said Jenney’s case doesn’t fit the criteria required for pretrial detention.
The judge did agree to the Commonwealth’s request for conditional release based on dangerousness.
These conditions include having no contact with nor making any threats or violence, directly or indirectly, against any of the alleged Commonwealth victims and witnesses, according to court records.
Additionally, nine other conditions were listed including that the defendant shall not have any unsupervised contact with any child age seventeen or younger including but not limited to physical, auditory and electronic contact.
Jenney also cannot be in the presence of any child without an adult, who is responsible for that child’s welfare, being aware of his current pending sex offense-type charges, according to court documents.
The defendant is also not to live nor work with any minor child and must remain within 100 yards of any school, child daycare facility, park or playground and other places where minor children regularly meet, according to City Hall records.
Further, Jenney cannot use the Internet nor knowingly access, view, own or obtain any obscene or pornographic visual or auditory material.
Probation agents shall conduct random searches of Jenney’s computer(s) and any electronic devices capable of accessing the internet, which will be conducted every 60 to 120 days. The probation department shall also monitor or filter his computer use via computer programs.
If there is evidence of a pretial condition violation, warrantless searches of the defendant’s person, home and vehicle may be conducted, according to court documents.
Any violations of a pretrial condition may result in the defendant’s “arrest, revocation of probation, the entry of a guilty finding (if not already entered) and the imposition or execution of sentence,” according to court records.
Jenney signed agreeing to these conditions on Monday prior to his release.
This is an ongoing investigation with more charges expected to follow, according to Westfield Police Det. Roxann M. Bradley’s statement of facts.
