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First Posted: 5/19/2010
Edward Lewis elewis@www.timesleader.com
KINGSTON – Minutes after police withdrew a child pornography charge against Randall A. Hayes on Wednesday, he was taken into custody by federal authorities on a similar offense.
Hayes, 24, who previously worked with disadvantage children at the Family Enrichment Center in Scranton, was transported to the federal courthouse in Wilkes-Barre where he was charged with possession of child pornography, which is punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, if convicted.
At the state level, if convicted, Hayes would have faced either probation or a short jail term.
Police initially filed a single count of possession of child pornography against Hayes in March after executing a search warrant at his then Sharpe Street, Kingston, apartment.
A computer hard drive and thumb drive seized from Hayes’ apartment allegedly contained pornographic videos and images of children.
A forensic examination of Hayes’ computer by a state police trooper uncovered several chat sessions in which Hayes requested other males to mail him girl’s underwear. Hayes stated during the chat sessions that he likes fathers who have daughters because it is easy for him to obtain girls panties, according to a search warrant affidavit.
Authorities said in the search warrant affidavit that they recovered pictures of Hayes wearing girls and boys underwear that he stored on the hard drive of his computer.
Several smoking devices, including glass pipes and bongs, and marijuana were found inside Hayes’ apartment, according to the criminal complaint.
Hayes was terminated from his job the day after police charged him with possession of child pornography, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia on March 3.
Those charges were withdrawn prior to a preliminary hearing before District Judge Paul Roberts on Wednesday.
Immediately after the brief hearing, federal authorities took control of Hayes and transported him to the federal courthouse in Wilkes-Barre where the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a criminal complaint charging him with possession of child pornography.
Hayes was arraigned by U.S. District Magistrate Judge Malachy Mannion and was detained pending a preliminary examination scheduled for June 8.
The preliminary examination will be canceled if a federal grand jury returns an indictment against Hayes.