Andrew Hazelton was charged with possessing child pornography shortly after his employer notified police about troubling behavior. A Portland man who was part of a neo-Nazi group has pleaded guilty in federal court to possession of child pornography. Andrew Hazelton, 28, appeared Thursday in U.S. District Court in Portland by video from an undisclosed address in western New Hampshire. He was originally held without bail after his arrest in May, but a judge allowed him to be released in June on $25,000 unsecured bond and strict conditions, including supervision by his father. He will report to jail in August and be sentenced at a later date. He could face up to 20 years in prison. The plea hearing did not include any reference to Hazelton’s connections to a white supremacist group or his former employer’s fears that he might commit a workplace shooting. Hazelton admitted to possessing dozens of explicit videos of children. He also agreed to forfeit the Samsung cellphone on which investigators discovered those video files. The allegation that Hazelton had a sexual interest in children dates to a 2019 investigation by the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office, whose investigators found that he sought explicit photos from a 10-year-old girl. But Hazelton was never charged in that case, and it’s unclear why.
via sunjournal: Portland man who belonged to neo-Nazi group pleads guilty to child porn charge