Residents Question Release Of Man Charged In Child Porn Case

TEWKSBURY, MA — When Lowell District Court Judge Ellen Caulo released a Tewksbury man accused of possessing child pornography on personal recognizance last Thursday, she stipulated that he have no unsupervised contact with minors. But for many Tewksbury residents, the restrictions placed on David Cronin, 49, of 55 Pratt Street in Tewksbury, didn't go far enough.

"I can't understand why there wasn't some sort of monitoring device put on him," Selectman Mark Kratman said Wednesday, one week after Cronin was arrested. "We just opened a splash pad and the thought of someone going there and taking pictures of kids...I can't understand why there were not more restrictions placed on his release."

Cronin was arrested last Wednesday by police officers who responded to the Market Basket in Tewksbury for a separate report of credit card fraud. As they conducted that investigation, the officers were told a person was taking photos and videos of children in the store. After identifying Cronin as the person taking the photos, police found he "was in possession of multiple photographs depicting child pornography," according to a Monday news release from Tewksbury police.

Tewksbury Patch has asked the Middlesex District Attorney's office and Tewksbury police for more details on the incident and on the conditions of Cronin's release and will update this story when we hear back from them. Judges typically consider several factors when deciding to release a person accused of a crime while they await trial, including past offenses, seriousness of the charges they are facing, and the risk of the person not showing up for their next court date.

Tewksbury police initially set Cronin's bail at $5,000, pending the outcome of his arraignment on Thursday. After Tewksbury police announced the arrest in a news release Monday evening, he was immediately recognized by several residents as a delivery driver for Hunan Wok, a restaurant on Main Street in Tewksbury.

Several posters on a closed Facebook group for Tewksbury residents recounted being in the Market Basket when Cronin was arrested. "Another customer actually caught him taking the pictures and yelled at him loudly for everyone to hear. Thank God for people like her who speak up when they see something," one woman said.

A woman who said she was the person who shouted also posted on the group. "Myself and my stepson stood right beside him for a full 45 seconds before I said something, I wanted to be 110% sure of what he was actually doing and he WAS video taping 3 little girls," the woman wrote. "The mom saw him, looked at me and I started yelling YES he is taking pictures of your girls and told her to go up front and tell someone right away and I continued basically screaming at him and telling him to get the hell out and what a pig he was."

Another poster said Cronin delivered food to his house Sunday night, but he had shaved and cut off the pony tail he was wearing in the mug shot released by police. A man who answered the telephone at Hunan Wok Wednesday said Cronin was no longer working for the restaurant. Cronin's last day was Tuesday, said the man, who declined to give his name.

Dave Copeland covers Tewksbury for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).