WESTFIELD –A city man previously arraigned for a number of child pornography and related offenses has now also been arraigned for firearms violations.
Police report that officers who arrested Gardner Whitney, 61, of 19 Sunbriar Drive, found him to be in possession of a variety of handguns and ammunition.
Whitney was arrested Jan. 22 following an investigation by city Det. Roxanne Bradley and state troopers assigned to the Hampden District Attorney’s office which was sparked by the discovery of images of naked young girls on computer media linked to Whitney.
Bradley’s investigation revealed hundreds of pornographic images on a variety of computer media, some of which showed girls who appeared to be between 10 and 16 years-of-age posing while displaying their private parts.
Many other images found depict female parties, both adult and juvenile, who appear to have been photographed surreptitiously while changing clothes or otherwise in dishabille.
After his arrest, Whitney was arraigned on four charges of possession of child pornography, three charges of lasciviously posing or exhibiting a child in the nude, three charges of photographing an unsuspecting nude person and a charge of indecent assault and battery on a child younger than 14 years-of-age.
He was held in lieu of $25,000 cash bail.
The new firearms charges stem from property found when Whitney was arrested.
Whitney had left his residence in the city and was discovered to be staying at an Agawam address.
Westfield Det. Daniel Gustafson accompanied an Agawam officer and state troopers to a South Westfield Street address in Feeding Hills to serve a warrant resulting from the investigation.
When Whitney was taken into custody he informed the officers that he had “several handguns in a brief case in the bedroom closet” according to a document filed in Westfield District Court in support of a criminal complaint.
The officers found the unlocked briefcase which contained five loaded pistols, as well as additional ammunition.
When asked, Whitney told the officer that he had been issued a license to carry handguns by Chicopee authorities but had allowed it to lapse.
Trooper Marc J. Reidy reports, in the criminal complaint application, that none of the weapons were found to have been registered to Whitney.
Whitney was arraigned on the new charges Friday and pleaded not guilty to five charges of possession of a firearm without a FID card and five charges of improper storage of a firearm.
He was held in lieu of $1,000 cash bail pending a March 27 hearing.
Bradley reports that Gardner had been employed as a specialized teacher at a Connecticut middle school but he has reportedly been suspended from that job.
In addition, he had been associated with the Melha Shrine of Springfield but Shrine officials disassociated themselves from Whitney after his arrest.
