NANTUCKET MAN ARRESTED AND CHARGED FOR PRODUCING AND TRANSPORTING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

WASHINGTON - A Nantucket, Mass., man was arrested this morning and charged with producing child pornography and transporting it into the United States, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan for the District of Massachusetts announced.
William H. Constable, 53, was arrested at his home in Nantucket this morning, on a federal criminal complaint charging him producing child pornography outside of the United States. The complaint charges Constable with using a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction and transporting such visual depiction into the United States from abroad.

According to the criminal complaint, on October 19, 2007, Barnstable, Mass., Police Department received a call from an attorney representing a Hyannis, Mass., area hotel. The police were informed that hotel personnel had found suspected child pornography on a digital camera that a guest had left behind in a hotel room. The complaint further alleges that after the camera was found, an individual claiming to be the owner of the camera called and asked whether his camera had been located. Constable then returned to the hotel later in the day, identified himself as the camera's owner, and reclaimed it. At that time, he was questioned and arrested by local police.

Authorities reviewed the camera and found at least 40 digital video clips of children engaged in sexual acts, including several videos of a pre-pubescent girl between the ages of six and eight engaged in sexual intercourse with an adult male.

Constable faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a term of supervised release of between at least five years to life.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana Gershengorn and Trial Attorney Elizabeth M. Yusi of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division. The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Barnstable Police Department; and the Nantucket Police Department.

The details contained in the complaint are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.