NORTHAMPTON — A Florence teenager pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Hampshire Superior Court to 10 felony child pornography charges, and was released on the same conditions and the $3,000 bail he posted when first arraigned in District Court.
Andrew Tran, 19, faces two counts of possession of child pornography and eight counts of distributing child pornography. He was arrested March 22 after Northampton police were alerted by a cybertip via Massachusetts State Police, originating with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, that suspected child pornography had been uploaded or shared from an area resident’s Kik account.
Northampton Police Sgt. Corey Robinson determined that four of the files, three of them videos, depicted girls between the ages of 5 and 15 engaged in a sex act or posed lasciviously, court documents state. Robinson obtained a search warrant for the address linked to the internet protocol address provided in the cybertip, and interviewed Tran there. Police seized Tran’s iPhone and other devices and reviewed hundreds of images and videos.
He was charged initially with three counts related to child pornography; other charges were added as the investigation progressed.
On Aug. 3, a Hampshire County grand jury returned the 10-count indictment against Tran.
In court Tuesday, Judge James Manitsas accepted the bail and conditions as agreed on by Assistant District Attorney Jillian Handy and defense counsel Derk Wadas. Tran is prohibited from having unsupervised contact with minor children, from living or working with children, and from staying overnight where children are present.
His next court date was set for Nov. 16.