Turner Falls man sentenced to three years for possession of child pornography

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Turner Falls man sentenced to three years for possession of child pornography

Leah B. Foley United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts | Department of Justice

A Turner Falls resident, Edward Dunphy, 79, has been sentenced to three years in prison and five years of supervised release for possessing child sexual abuse material. The sentencing took place in federal court in Springfield, Massachusetts, with U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni presiding.

Dunphy pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in April 2025. The investigation began in October 2022 into online peer-to-peer file sharing networks used for distributing child sexual abuse material. In February 2023, authorities identified Dunphy as a user who was actively uploading and downloading such material.

Law enforcement conducted a search of Dunphy’s home on May 18, 2023. They seized a computer with an internal hard drive, eight external hard drives, a cell phone, and an SD card among other items. Forensic examination revealed more than 340,000 files containing child sexual abuse material. These included files depicting the sexual abuse or exploitation of infants or toddlers and the forcible rape of minor females.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley stated: “Valuable assistance was provided by the Montague Police Department.” Randy Maloney, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service Boston Field Office also participated in announcing the outcome. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian J. Sullivan from the Criminal Division prosecuted the case.