RI Man Tied To Racist Group Picked Up On Warrant In Child Porn Case: Cops

PORTSMOUTH, RI — A Jamestown man with ties to a white supremacist group was arrested on a warrant charging him with violating the conditions of his bond in a child pornography case, police said.

Stephen Farrea, 35, appeared in court Tuesday and was ordered to be held without bond, court records show.

The Rhode Island State Police issued a media release saying Stephen Ferrea, 35, was apprehended Tuesday on a bail violation warrant in a Portsmouth Police Department child pornography case.

Asked if Ferrea was actually Farrea, state police Lt. Col. Robert Creamer said in an email, "We have it as Ferrea."

Farrea was originally arrested on the possession of child pornography charge in May 2024.

The Portsmouth police said they secured a warrant and searched his home and electronic devices. The search turned up images of sexually explicit conduct between minors, police said.

Two years before he was charged with possessing child pornography, Farrea and an Arizona man were arrested in East Providence after police said they caught them trying to recruit men into a white nationalist group.

Police at the time said they were called to Vincent Avenue after receiving reports of several men hanging up white nationalist flyers near the Gordon School, and officers found flyers stapled to utility poles throughout the neighborhood.

The flyers belonged to the NSC-131, according to police, who described the club as a "pro-white, street-oriented fraternity dedicated to raising authentic resistance to the enemies of our people in the New England area."

Also known as the Nationalist Social Club, NSC-131 is a neo-Nazi organization that "rose to prominence on a national level after some of its members bragged about attending the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Farrea and Austin Conti, 29, of Yuma, Arizona, were charged with obstruction of an officer in execution of duty and violating the city's ordinance against posting signs to utility poles.

Farrea and Conti both pleaded no contest and were ordered to perform 20 hours of community service, Boston.com reported.

A hearing on whether Farrea violated the conditions of his bond was set for Aug. 22.

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