Lincoln County Grand Jury

Bremen man arrested for child pornography

Thu, 09/18/2014 - 8:30am

A Bremen man has been indicted by the Lincoln County Grand Jury with possession of sexually explicit materials involving children under the age of 12.

Zachary Rancourt, 25, of Bremen was indicted on two counts of possession of sexually explicit material of a minor under age 12, which is a Class C crime, and three counts of possession of sexually explicit material, which is a Class D crime.

Rancourt was arrested in May after police were able to trace his computer from a file sharing network.

The Maine State Police's Computer Crimes Unit began an investigation into a peer-to-peer sharing website and began focusing on a specific IP address as a potential case.

On May 1, Forensic Analyst Jessica Miller with the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit observed the individual IP address sharing files that were described as being sexually explicit in nature.

Lt. Glen Lang recognized the Internet service provider as Tidewater Telecom. On May 1, a subpoena was given to Tidewater, requesting information about the IP address.

The next day, information was acquired through the subpoena that traced back to a residence in Bremen.

On May 5, police observed the user at the IP address again visiting the file sharing website sharing and downloading files. One of the documents, which was a still from a video, purported to show a child engaged in sex acts.

On May 6, a search warrant was issued for the Rancourt residence in Bremen, and was executed the same day.

The police interviewed Rancourt at the residence and he allegedly admitted to officers from the Maine State Police and Lincoln County Sheriff's Office that he downloaded and shared the videos. While still at Rancourt's house, Detective Jason Kittredge conducted a field preview of Rancourt's laptop, where he was allegedly able to find evidence of child pornography.

During the interview process, Rancourt allegedly denied ever coming in physical contact with a child.

If convicted, Rancourt could face up to five years and or a $5,000 fine for the Class C charges.