A former Middletown police officer has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography.
Samuel DiProto, 61, of Cromwell, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with possession of child pornography, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney David Fein.
DiPronto was a police officer with the Middletown Police Department from Sept. 21, 1987 to Aug. 19, 2009, according to a statement from the Middletown Police Department.
The his retired, according to the affidavit.
On March 12, and April 10, a state police detective assigned to the Computer Crimes Unit logged onto a publicly available Internet file sharing BitTorrent network and downloaded images and videos of child pornography from a computer connected to the network with an Internet Protocol (IP) address assigned to DiProto, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Police searched DiProto’s residence on Tuesday and seized computers, hard drives and thumb drives. Police found 20 to 40 videos and images of minors in sexually explicit conduct, according to court papers.
He is accused of having photos of prepubescent minors and minors under the age of 12.
After the search, police arrested DiProto.
He appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Donna F. Martinez in Hartford on Wednesday and is being detained pending a hearing that is scheduled for May 13.