Former Police Sgt. Sentenced on Child Pornography Charge

PROVIDENCE – A former Attleboro, Mass., police sergeant was sentenced today to 60 months in federal prison and ordered remanded immediately into federal custody for attempted receipt of child pornography. Richard F. Woodhead, 54, of South Attleboro, Mass., was arrested in April by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents and members of the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force following a court authorized search of his home and the seizure of digital media storage devices containing child pornography.

Woodhead pleaded guilty on August 18, 2017, to attempted receipt of child pornography.

The sentence, imposed by U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith, is announced by Acting United States Attorney Stephen G. Dambruch; Colonel Ann C. Assumpico, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police; and Michael S. Shea Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations for New England.

At sentencing, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Smith also ordered Woodhead to serve 10 years supervised release upon completion of his term of incarceration and imposed special assessments totaling $5,100. The statutorily required minimum sentence of 5 years imposed by the Court is greater than the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines imprisonment range in this matter of 46-57 months. The government recommended the Court impose a sentence of 60 months of incarceration.

According to court documents and information presented to the Court, between September 22, 2016, and January 19, 2017, Woodhead posted multiple online advertisements entitled “Perv on your daughter – m4m.”  In the advertisement, the defendant requested to see nude pictures of people’s daughters.  In January 2017, a Rhode Island State Police detective assigned to the ICAC task force discovered the posting and responded to the advertisement in an undercover capacity, pretending to be the guardian of a young child. He began communicating with Woodhead via email. During these conversations, Woodhead requested a photograph of the child and described in explicit terms the types of sexual relations he wanted to have with the child.

According to court documents and information presented to the Court, in late January 2017, Woodhead agreed to continue the conversations via telephone. An HSI agent, acting in an undercover capacity as the guardian of a child, had three conversations with Woodhead, all of which were recorded by law enforcement. During these telephone calls, the agent and the defendant discussed meeting so that Woodhead might engage in sexual relations with the child. Woodhead requested that the agent send him naked pictures of the child.

On April 6, 2017, HSI agents and ICAC task force members executed a court-authorized search of Woodhead’s residence.  During that search, behind a wall in a secret compartment of a closet off the master bedroom, a state police detective located a thumb drive and four discs, nylons, two bottles of acetone, and a picture of a school-aged female.  One disc contained a video, which depicted prepubescent boys masturbating and engaging in sexual acts.  The thumb drive contained nude photographs of minor teenage girls engaged in the lascivious exhibition of their genitals.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra R. Hebert.

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