Lincoln County District Court

Anderson guilty of child porn charges

Mon, 04/18/2016 - 3:30pm

Rachel E. Anderson, 35, of East Boothbay, was found guilty on four of six charges of Possession of Sexually Explicit Material of a Minor under the age of 12 on April 11.

Anderson had received the material from a man in South Carolina with whom she was exchanging emails and photographs, according to court documents. The man sent her sexually explicit photos of himself and a child. He was later found guilty of child sexual abuse and dissemination of sexually explicit material in South Carolina, and is currently serving a prison sentence.

Rather than turn them over to the police, Anderson continued corresponding with the man in question for more than three months, and eventually sent a photo of an underage child to him. While the photo was not explicit, investigators’ records indicate that given the earlier correspondence, Anderson knew or should have known that the recipient would find the photo titillating, and she was also charged with Sexual Exploitation of a Minor Under 12, and Dissemination of Sexually Explicit Material.

Anderson was also found guilty of the dissemination charge. The exploitation charge, and two of the possession charges, are subject to being dismissed through a deferred disposition plea.

The case came to light when Anderson told a therapist she was witness to child sexual abuse, and the therapist alerted the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Health and Human Services, who spoke to her, seized her computer, and found several nude photos of the young relative and more than 70 videos featuring child sexual abuse.