MANCHESTER, N.H. – After two weeks of being unable to identify a toddler in pornographic photographs, police released nonsexual photos of her nationwide.
Within a day, her grandfather was in custody on child pornography charges.
Richard Hawes (search), 63, was arraigned Thursday in District Court here on five counts of possessing child pornography.
Hawes, a summer resident of nearby New Boston, entered no plea to the charges and was held on $200,000 bail pending a preliminary hearing June 22. A public defender for Hawes had not yet been assigned.
On May 24, a clerk at a CVS drugstore discovered electronic copies of photos showing the naked 2-year-old and turned them over to police.
Some of the photos in the batch were typical family fare. But police said other pictures showed the girl "positioned and posed in sexually explicit ways." The clerk later identified the man from a store surveillance camera and police say the man is Hawes.
Convinced the girl was in danger and unable to identify her despite an exhaustive investigation, police decided to go public Tuesday with two nonsexual photos of the girl.
Relatives saw a photo on TV, and the girl's father identified her in photos e-mailed by police, leading to Hawes' arrest Wednesday outside his mobile home at a campground.
Hawes allegedly took the photos this spring during a visit with his son's family in Florida, where authorities also expect to bring charges.
A police affidavit released Thursday said Hawes admitted taking the photos with a digital camera after becoming "fascinated" by his granddaughter's genitals when giving her a bath.
Officers said Hawes twice tried to print the photos in New Hampshire using self-service kiosks in CVS drugstores. The first time, in Nashua, he fled after realizing the photos were printing behind a counter.
The second time he printed the sexually explicit photos — along with typical family photos of the girl — at the CVS in Manchester, police said.
In Florida, a spokesman for the Seminole County Sheriff's Office outside Orlando said Hawes could face charges of capital sexual battery, lewd and lascivious molestation, and sexual performance on a minor. A conviction on capital sexual battery carries a mandatory life sentence.
"We're still working out the details on whose case is moving forward first," Steve Olson said. "Ours is probably the most serious of the two."
The girl was being cared for by authorities in Florida early Thursday. A call to the Department of Children & Families to determine her status was not returned.
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