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Grand jury hearing likely for Ogdensburg officer facing child porn charges

Posted 3/8/16

 By JIMMY LAWTON OGDENSBURG -- A case involving an Ogdensburg police officer accused of promoting child pornography will likely go before a grand jury. Special Prosecutor Gary Pasqua said no …

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Grand jury hearing likely for Ogdensburg officer facing child porn charges

Posted

 By JIMMY LAWTON

OGDENSBURG -- A case involving an Ogdensburg police officer accused of promoting child pornography will likely go before a grand jury.

Special Prosecutor Gary Pasqua said no plea deal was reached during a court conference with the judge today, increasing the likelihood of grand jury proceedings.

“We have been involved in ongoing negotiations that would include prison time, but I don’t want to go into details of the negotiations,” he said.

Harry J. McCarthy, 55, a veteran officer on the Ogdensburg police force, was charged with promoting a sexual performance involving a child last summer.

Although originally released under probation supervision, McCarthy was jailed after violating terms of his released when he allegedly approached and engaged in conversation with a 16 year-old male, who has an active order of protection against McCarthy.

McCarthy’s original arrest was the result of an investigation conducted by the New York State Police Computer Crimes Unit and Troop B, in cooperation with the City of Ogdensburg Police Department.

McCarthy was apparently caught by Google's system for monitoring child pornography. One image of a prepubescent female having vaginal sex with an adult male was uploaded May 19 at 8:26 p.m. from McCarthy’s home, according to court documents.

Court documents say the image was uploaded using the Google Gmail service, with an email address of Loverbouy.girl@gmail.com. Google apparently notified the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children of the child porn image and the addresses that were used to access the email account.

An order of protection was also issued for McCarthy's girlfriend and her children.

St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary E. Rain and County Court Judge Jerome J. Richards have both recused themselves from the case due to personal conflicts associated with McCarthy’s police work. Because of the conflicts Pasqua and Franklin County Court Judge Derek P. Champagne are handling the case.