‘Attempted’ making of child porn charges added to case against Wairi, local teacher
Wairi
In addition to possessing and transporting child pornography, Cambridge and Somerville teacher Josh Wairi is facing charges of trying to make his own. A five-charge superseding indictment filed today amends three counts of production of child pornography to say he also “attempted” production of child pornography, as well as adding one count of possession of child pornography.
The filing by Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus says that in October 2011 the teacher did “use, persuade, induce, entice and coerce” three kids – identified only as Minor A, Minor B and Minor C in the document – “to engage in … sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct.”
That language, from a May 15, 2014, indictment, is now supplemented by saying Wairi also “did … attempt” production of porn using the minors.
Another charge in the document says on April 17, 2014, the day of his arrest on related charges, Wairi had pornographic material involving “a prepubescent minor and a minor who had not attained 12 years of age.” (The indictment also includes a charge involving transport of the pornography between July 2013 and the day of his arrest.)
A message was left Tuesday with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for additional information.
Wairi, 28, a fifth-grade teacher at the Graham & Parks School, admitted to secretly videotaping and using a camera on his phone to record children changing in a school locker room, according to officials. Cambridge Superintendent Jeffrey Young has said he is not aware of an allegation that this took place at Graham & Parks.
Wairi’s previous teaching job was in Somerville at the Arthur D. Healey School, which is attended by students from kindergarten to the eighth grade.
In September, federal Judge William G. Young said a jury would be impaneled April 6 and a trial for Wairi would likely start the next day. The judge said he hoped Wairi’s lawyers and the government came to a settlement before then. A pretrial conference has been scheduled for March 23.
The original set of charges had Wairi facing a minimum of 15 years in prison for each production charge and a minimum of five years for the transportation charge, as well as a $250,000 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Wairi has been held without bail at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, R.I.
The affidavit for his arrest said Wairi was online in 2013 seeking to trade porn with others, “looking for boys 7-13yo if your interested in trading.” In July 2013, officials said, Wairi said he was “counting the videos that I have. They are about 45 plus I have about 60 more from [other] users. ”
John Hawkinson contributed to this report.
