New York Times bestselling author Brendan DuBois was arrested on child pornography charges Wednesday after police in New Hampshire found dozens of disturbing images of children, including infants, in his possession.
Dubois, who co-wrote several books with James Patterson, handed himself in to police in Exeter after a four-month investigation by local police and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Seacostonline reported.
The married author and former “Jeopardy!” champion was charged with six felony counts of possessing child pornography and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment hearing Thursday.
According to the criminal complaint, obtained by local media, Dubois, 64, “knowingly possessed at least 35 visual depictions of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”
According to an affidavit obtained by the magazine, investigators began their investigation in March after Google reported that a user was using Google Drive to store “apparent child pornography.”
They then traced the Google user’s IP address and linked it to the author, a long-time Exeter resident.
Investigators executed a search warrant at DuBois’ home on May 7, after his wife told police that the couple had separate computers and private, password-protected Wi-Fi.
Police subsequently seized a hard drive and Apple laptop from the poster’s home office, and a subsequent search resulted in more than 5,600 images being flagged as “potential child abuse content.”
According to a police affidavit, the disturbing photos were taken of children ranging from babies to around 12 years old.
According to documents obtained by the media, an examination of Dubois’ search history also revealed search terms such as “I accidentally saved child porn to my main Google Drive” and “how to find out if Google called the police.”
The author’s publisher, Severn River Publishing, has already removed his books from shelves and his author profile page.
“We are deeply troubled by the serious allegations against Brendan DuBois,” the company said in a statement to the news site. “While we respect the legal process, we have decided to immediately cease promoting and selling Mr. DuBois’s books. We believe these steps are necessary to uphold our values and maintain the trust of readers, authors and the publishing industry.”
Severn River Publishing, which published his latest novel, “Terminal Surf,” released last month, did not immediately respond to The Washington Post’s inquiries.
DuBois has written 29 novels, including six with Patterson and his best-known “Lewis Cole” mystery series, as well as over 200 short stories.
The New Hampshire resident lists numerous awards on his website, including “three Schamus Awards from the Private Investigator Writers of America, two Barry Awards, two Dillinger Awards, an Ellery Queen Reader’s Award, and three Edgar Allan Poe Award nominations from the Mystery Writers of America.”
