Newport Resident Detained on Child Pornography Charges

 PROVIDENCE – A 39 year-old Newport man has been ordered detained following his arrest this morning on federal child pornography charges.

Craig M. Mulvey was arrested as Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), members of the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and Newport Police executed a court-authorized search of the Newport residence where Mulvey lives. During the search, it is alleged that numerous images and videos containing child pornography were located on a laptop belonging to Mulvey.

Additionally, in a segregated compartment in a nightstand located in Mulvey’s bedroom, investigators located two pairs of soiled little girl’s underwear and a thumb drive.

According to court documents, in February 2020, HSI agents in Providence received information from HSI agents in Ottawa that an image of child pornography had been uploaded to a social media platform from an Internet address later determined to belong to the Newport residence where Mulvey resides. In October, HSI determined that a login used to access and upload the image of child pornography to the social media platform allegedly belonged to Mulvey.

Mulvey appeared this afternoon before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond and was ordered detained on a criminal complaint charging him with distribution of child pornography and possessing and accessing child pornography, announced United States Attorney Aaron L. Weisman, Homeland Security Investigations Acting Special Agent in Charge David Magdycz, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police Colonel James M. Manni, and Newport Police Chief Gary T. Silva.

A federal criminal complaint is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. McAdams.