MA School Employee Faces Child Porn Charges

ASHLAND, MA — A Needham schools employee faces charges of child pornography possession and distributing material containing a obscene material, the Middlesex District Attorney's Office announced.

On Thursday around 8:45 p.m., members of the Ashland Police Department's Criminal Investigations Unit and Patrol Division, in collaboration with the Massachusetts State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and members of the Metrowest Drug Taskforce, executed both a search warrant and an arrest warrant at a residence located on Spyglass Hill in Ashland.

Following an "extensive investigation spanning several months," 47-year-old Ashland resident Michael R. Ciccolella was taken into custody and charged with possession of child pornography, distribution of obscene material and distribution of material depicting a nude child.

The preliminary investigation suggests that the defendant viewed and distributed sexually explicit images of minors ranging from ages three to twelve years old using the online messaging applications Media Lab/Kik, officials said.

Ciccolella is being held on $500,000 bail and a judge ordered him to have no unsupervised contact with children under 18, not to use the internet and to submit to home confinement with a GPS monitoring device.

During the search, authorities seized multiple pieces of evidence for further analysis. The investigation remains active and ongoing.