A Westbrook man has been released on $100,000 bail after police arrested him last week and charged him with 25 felony counts of possession of child pornography.
Gary T. Foley, 51, of 128 Brown St., is awaiting arraignment, which will most likely occur in the first week of May or the first week of June, according to his attorney, John Paul DeGrinney.
The Westbrook Police Department and the Maine Computer Crimes Task Force arrested Foley after a prolonged investigation. The investigation began in the beginning of February with seizure of evidence from Foley’s home and initial interviews.
Maine State Police notified Westbrook police in early February that a woman had reported receiving child pornography from Foley, her landlord, according to an affidavit by Detective Sgt. Stephen Lyons. The woman had asked Foley, who was a friend, for a blank CD to copy music. The CD contained what appeared to be child pornography.
Upon viewing the CD, Lyons determined it contained young girls under the age of 14 engaged in sexually explicit acts with adult men. The following day, Lyons and Detective Tim Gardner went to Foley’s home, read him his Miranda rights, and asked to search his home.
While searching Foley’s home, the detectives found numerous photographs of children engaged in sexual acts. Foley told detectives they were photographs he printed from the Internet of children he believed to be under the age of 10.
The detectives also found headshots of the 7-year-old daughter of Foley’s friend and tenant whom he had given the CD. Foley told police he had fantasized about having sex with the 7-year-old but had never touched her indecently. Foley was considered a friend of the family, according to police. The girl often spent time with Foley, swimming in his pool and hot tub and sitting with him.
The apartment also contained a picture of the 7-year-old’s friend, whom Foley had met. Foley told police he stole the pictures of the two girls from his tenant’s apartment when she wasn’t there and made copies of them. He said he took them because he found the girls attractive.
According to Lyons, Foley said he had been sexually abused when he was a child and kept a diary of his life and his sexual activities. Foley said a man on his paper route molested him three or four times when he was 14 years old. He said the man offered him money to have sex with him.
Foley told police he had been viewing child pornography for only a matter of weeks. He said he has a split personality and it was his split personality, a woman named Lisa Foley, who had been in possession of the child pornography. He said he realized he has a problem but had never sexually abused anyone.
Following a search of Foley’s home, police seized several computers, which were examined over February and March by the Maine Computer Crimes Task Force. An investigation revealed “hundreds of pictures and videos of child pornography,” said Lyons. “I viewed upward of 50 or more of these pictures and videos of children I believe to be under the age of 12 engaged in sexual acts or displaying their genitals. Some of these videos are of children being sexually assaulted.”
Foley was arrested on 25 counts of possession of child pornography, each count a Class C felony that can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in jail and a $10,000 fine.
DeGrinney said it is too early to determine what type of defense he will mount in court should Foley be arraigned. He said Foley has not entered a plea but he would be pleading not guilty. He said Foley has no criminal record of any kind.
While on bail, Foley is restricted from consuming alcohol and possessing or having access to any cameras, computers, the Internet, or videotaping devices. He is also prohibited from direct contact with any minor under the age of 18 and is not allowed within 1,000 feet of any school.
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