Fall River man indicted in Superior Court for sharing child porn

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FALL RIVER — A city man who was one of five defendants arrested in a spring investigation into child pornography in the region was indicted in Superior Court last week on charges of possessing and distributing illicit images.

A Bristol County grand jury handed up indictments Aug. 15 charging Brent Rainey Sr., 49, with two counts of possessing child pornography and one count of distributing material of a child engaged in a sexual act. The indictment moves the case from District Court to Superior Court.

Investigators armed with a warrant to search Rainey’s 385 Weetamoe St. home in the spring allegedly found 66 files containing images of child pornography on Rainey's laptop, Assistant District Attorney Danielle Pixley said at Rainey’s April 19 arraignment. Rainey pleaded not guilty to child pornography charges in District Court.

Rainey allegedly shared images that depicted pre-pubescent children engaged in sexual acts with adults, said Pixley. At the time of the April 18 warrant search, the images had been downloaded 70 times by others.

Investigators seized Rainey’s laptop, two external hard drives and Rainey's cell phones. Pixley said the devices were due to be further searched.

Rainey’s bail was set at $1,000 with pretrial conditions to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet and to stay off the internet and away from minors. Rainey's Superior Court arraignment has not yet been scheduled, according to court records.

A joint investigation into child pornography spearheaded by Taunton Police Officer Randy DeMello, assigned to the Department of Homeland Security Investigations Task Force, netted the arrest of five local men.

Two of the men, Rainey and 50-year-old Stephen Nazario, lived in Fall River. Nazario was arraigned last month on additional charges of aggravated rape stemming from the alleged systematic sexual abuse of a former girlfriend’s two children beginning around 2004.

Email Amanda Burke at aburke@heraldnews.com.