Best-selling author Brendan DuBois indicted on child sex abuse images charges
New York Times best-selling author Brendan DuBois has been indicted by a New Hampshire grand jury on six felony counts of possession of child sex abuse images.
DuBois, 65, of Exeter, New Hampshire, will be arraigned Oct. 23, in Rockingham Superior Court. An indictment is not an indication of guilt; it means the grand jury found enough evidence to warrant a trial. The grand jury met in October.
DuBois has been held in preventative detention since he was arrested by Exeter police in July. A judge ordered detention based on clear and convincing evidence that the “defendant's release will endanger the safety of the defendant or the public, given the substantial number of alleged sexual abuse images and the recency of the downloaded images.”
DuBois was arrested by Exeter police on July 10 after he turned himself in on a warrant.
According to a criminal complaint, DuBois "did knowingly possess at least 35 visual representations of children engaging in sexually explicit conduct." The document states they were "images of nude boys and girls under the age of 18 engaging in various sexual acts."
DuBois is represented by attorney Harry Starbranch of Starbranch Law in Portsmouth, who did not return a call seeking comment Thursday.
Police say thousands of images of 'possible child abuse content' were discovered
According to a police affidavit, police received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding "apparent child pornography" in March. The tip was reported by Google and all the files were uploaded to a Google Drive account by the same IP address police later determined belonged to DuBois.
On May 7, police issued a search warrant on DuBois' home on Juniper Ridge Road in Exeter. According to a police affidavit, multiple items were seized from the property, including a Toshiba hard drive and an Apple laptop, both located in DuBois' office.
More than 5,600 images on the computer were flagged as being "possible child abuse content," according to the affidavit.
Twenty images were detailed in the affidavit. Some of the images, according to the affidavit, were not flagged as possible child abuse content and were a part of the 401,208 images on the hard drive.
"I estimate the age of the above-mentioned children to be between infancy to 12 years old," said Exeter police Detective Bailey Teixeira.
Teixeira stated she reviewed DuBois' search history, and on Jan. 27 that included news articles of people arrested for possession of sex abuse images. It also included searches like "I accidentally saved child pornography to my main Google Drive" and "How to tell if Google has reported me to the police."
If convicted, DuBois faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of $4,000 on each count.
DuBois has authored more than two dozen novels, including “The First Lady” and “Cornwalls Are Gone.” He has also partnered with his mentor and “the most published author in the world,” James Patterson, on several books, including “The Summer House,” “Blowback” and the recently released “Cross Down.”
Mariano Rivera, wife break silence after being accused of covering up child sex abuse
New York Yankees legend Mariano Rivera and his wife Clara broke their silence on Thursday after they were named in a lawsuit and accused of covering up child sex abuse of a minor in their home and a summer camp connected with their church.
Joseph A. Ruta, their attorney, said in a statement that the first time they heard about the allegations was in 2022 – four years after the alleged incident took place. The attorney for the alleged victim at the time requested a financial settlement.
"Mariano and Clara Rivera do not tolerate child abuse of any kind and allegations that they knew about or failed to act on reports of child abuse are completely false," the statement read, via the New York Post. "The very first time they heard about these allegations was nearly four years after the alleged incident, when in 2022 a New York attorney sent a letter requesting a financial settlement. This was followed by a second letter in 2023, from a different Florida law firm, again requesting a financial settlement.
"The lawsuit, which seeks financial damages for the Riveras’ alleged failure to act on alleged incidents that were never reported to them, is full of inaccurate and misleading statements which we have no doubt will not hold up in a court of law."
In the lawsuit, a woman identified as "Jane Doe" said she was sexually abused by an older girl known as "MG" during a summer internship in 2018. MG was a minor at the time of the alleged incidents. The internship took place at the Ignite Life Center in Gainesville, Florida, which was affiliated with Rivera's church.
The suit said that the alleged victim's mother informed Clara of the abuse and that Clara promised to investigate the matter. However, they allegedly covered it up.
"Rather than take sufficient action to end the sexual abuse of Jane Doe, the Riveras each separately isolated and intimidated Jane Doe to remain silent about her abuse by MG to avoid causing trouble for Refuge of Hope and the Ignite Life Summer Internship," the suit read.
The suit also alleged that MG abused the victim at the Rivera residence in Rye, New York, that summer during a barbecue.
"At all times relevant, [the Riveras] knew or should have known that MG was a risk to sexually abuse children… before and during the time of the barbecue," the suit read.
"In order to avoid the potential scandal of child sexual abuse in its programs and otherwise protect [themselves] above all else, the Riveras… assured [Doe's mother] that [Doe] was safe and in no danger at Ignite Life Center, despite actual or constructive knowledge that Doe remained vulnerable to additional acts of sexual abuse by MG."
Several months later, in January 2019, Rivera became the first and still only player to be unanimously elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Later that year, President Donald Trump, during his first presidency, awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Rivera, widely known as the greatest closer in the history of baseball, is the sport's all-time saves leader with 652. His 2.21 ERA is also the lowest by any pitcher with at least 500 innings since the live-ball era began in 1920.
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