Cherry Hill Man Found With Meth, Child Porn, Guns, Bomb-Making Materials: Prosecutor

Editor's note: This article now contains a statement from Robert Cormier's attorney that Patch received Friday afternoon.

CHERRY HILL, NJ — A government contractor from Cherry Hill was under investigation for child pornography. A search of his home last month also revealed guns, bomb-making materials, suspected methamphetamine and a robot that belongs to the U.S. Navy, authorities said.

Robert Cormier, 50, was running a government-contracting business out of his Cherry Hill home, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

Initially, detectives discovered a Snapchat account and a Gmail account used to distribute child pornography. They later identified Cormier as the person behind both accounts, authorities said.

Cormier was arrested June 13 after briefly barricading himself inside a Barrington home, officials said.

An ensuing search of Cormier's home yielded guns, large-capacity magazines, bomb-making materials, suspected crystal meth and a bomb-disposal robot belonging to the Navy, authorities said.

The robot was returned to Naval officers.

Cormier was charged June 13 with:

• second-degree distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM)
• second-degree possession with intent to distribute CSAM
• third-degree possession of CSAM
• third-degree fortified structure (booby-trapping)
• third-degree possession of destructive devices (seven counts)
• second-degree manufacturing and distributing controlled dangerous substances (CDS)
• second-degree possession of firearms/CDS (four counts)
• third-degree possession of CDS
• fourth-degree possession of a large-capacity magazine

Five days later, a judge denied the state's motion to keep Cormier detained pre-trial, according to online court records. He's set to return to court Aug. 20 for a pre-indictment conference.

Patch's initial efforts to find reliable information about Cormier's government-contracting work were unsuccessful.

Cormier's attorney, John A. Zohlman III, says his client is innocent.

"Mr. Cormier has pled not guilty to the charges and is, in fact, innocent of all of them," Zohlman told Patch via email. "There was a very lengthy detainer hearing that took place in the Camden County Superior Court wherein it was argued that the allegations made by the CCPO were not only misguided but in many respects, simply wrong as revealed by their own investigative reports."

"As a result of what was argued to be the proverbial rush to judgment, Mr. Cormier was ordered by the Court to be released from detention and will remain so pending trial," Zohlman continued. "He will look forward to his day in court and at which time he expects to be fully exonerated of all charges."