ANDOVER — A former Merrimack College business dean arrested on child pornography charges last month was snared when he began chatting online with a woman who turned out to be a detective in Pennsylvania.
Edward Popper, 63, of 120 Dascomb Road served as dean of the Girard School of Business and International Commerce at the North Andover campus for five years before leaving in 2005.
According to records filed by investigators in the case, Popper used a screen name of gsbic_dean during his online conversations with the detective. The letters are the initials for the business school.
Her investigation began in March when she joined a group on Flickr, a photo-sharing arm of yahoo.com.
According to reports filed in the case, Popper responded when he saw her screen name heatherscutiepies.
That contact led to a series of chats with the investigator, in which Popper allegedly discussed his interest in having sex with children, according to court records.
The detective's online persona was that of a mother with young children who was frequenting chat areas devoted to sex with children.
"It is not unusual for mothers and fathers with children to go to the Internet looking for sexual relations with the children of other like-minded parents, and in some cases, instigating a quid pro quo arrangement with their own children," according to documents filed in the case.
During his chat with the investigator, he sent 13 images depicting males and females engaging in sex acts and some of the images depicted children believed to be under the age of 18.
When the detective investigated further, she located the Flickr account for Popper and found the account contained approximately 19,620 images believed to be child pornography, according to court records.
On June 26, Popper sent the detective multiple images of child pornography, among them images of adult men and woman engaging in sex with infants.
When local investigators assigned to the Essex District Attorney's Office received records from the Pennsylvania task force's investigation, they began a probe of their own, which led to the Aug. 14 arrest of Popper at his home, and the seizure of his computer and other devices.
He is free on $10,000 cash bail, awaiting trial on charges of distribution of obscene matter and possession of child pornography.
As a condition of his release, he was ordered not to use any computer, cell phone, PDA or other device that could connect to the Internet, or to have any contact with children under the age of 18.
He is due back in court Sept. 16 for a pretrial hearing.
If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison.
Popper's lawyer, Ted Cranney, could not be reached for comment.
