Morton Man Charged for Alleged Possession of Child Pornography

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A Morton man has been charged for possession of up to 11,000 images containing child pornography.

Curtis Jay Farrier was arrested after the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office received a tip from Internet Crimes Against Children that they had flagged a Google account with a user in Lewis County who had uploaded five files containing child pornography to Google Photos or Google Drive on Jan. 25.

Farrier was charged with first- and second-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct based on those initial five images. A subsequent search warrant of Farrier’s property found 11,000 additional images, which the sheriff’s office was in the process of reviewing at the time of Farrier’s preliminary appearance in Lewis County Superior Court on May 12.

“Very few of them are not child pornography,” said Deputy Prosecutor Paul Masiello.

Masiello requested that Judge Joely O’Rourke set Farrier’s bail at $100,000 “given the charges and the nature of the allegations as well as the number of them,” and to set a release condition that Farrier not be allowed contact with minors.

Defense attorney Rachael Tiller requested that O’Rourke lower the bail amount due to Farrier’s lack of prior criminal history and Farrier’s inability to pay, given that he has no income.



O’Rourke agreed to set Farrier’s bail at $75,000.

“I’m doing that given the financial circumstances on the understanding that the court has significant concerns about community safety,” O’Rourke said.

O’Rourke approved a condition of release prohibiting Farrier from any contact with minors and set an additional condition of release prohibiting Farrier from accessing any electronic devices with internet access.

His next court appearance is an arraignment hearing scheduled for Thursday, May 20.