WESTFIELD – A Pittsfield man, with a case already pending in Hampden Superior Court, had bail set at $25,000 cash after being arraigned on three counts of possession of child pornography in Westfield District Court on Wednesday.
Nearly two years ago, on May 16, 2014, Jason C. Tolbert, 47, of 191 Burbank Street Pittsfield was arrested on three charges of indecent assault and battery on a child younger than 14, charges of rape of a child with force and assault and battery.
Those charges were moved from Westfield District Court to Hampden Superior Court in July 2014.
In light of the new charges, Tolbert is now being held without right to bail while he awaits trial on the May 2014 charges.
In the summer of 2014, Tolbert allegedly resided in the attic of a home located at 12 Meadow Street in Westfield as the sole occupant, according to Det. Roxann Bradley’s statement of facts.
On March 10, 2015, the owner of 12 Meadow Street turned in abandoned property she found when she was cleaning out the attic.
The property consisted of a grey metal box, a Seagate portable hard drive, scan disc cards, a mirco card, a Lexar jump drive and personal papers belonging to the defendant.
Before surrendering the abandoned property, the homeowner had plugged the Seagate portable hard drive into her computer to see if it worked and discovered “pictures of adult males having oral and anal sex with young boys,” Bradley wrote.
The pictures were in “comic strip style,” so she didn’t think the pictures were illegal because “it wasn’t an actual photo of a real child or man,” according to Bradley.
After she discovered “she male” pictures, she stopped looking and brought the items to police.
After Bradley obtained a search warrant to view the abandoned property the homeowner had given police, she, along with Massachusetts State Police, searched the hard drive and media device cards and found numerous images of child pornography that are “very explicit and have strong sexual content,” Bradley wrote.
Tolbert is charged with three counts, one for each electronic devise that contained images of child porn.
He is due back in Westfield District Court on May 4 for a pretrial hearing.
Staff Writer Christine Charnosky can be reached at [email protected]
Follow me on Twitter @charnoskyWNG
