ARLINGTON, Mass. — A man who works as a nurse in the pediatric unit at Cambridge Hospital has been charged with child pornography, authorities said.
Peter Sahagian, 61, of Arlington, was released on personal recognizance after his arraignment on Wednesday in Cambridge District Court, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement Thursday. Conditions of his release were that Sahagian stay away from and have no contact with children under 18 and not to use the Internet.
Sahagian is charged with possessing child pornography, Ryan said. The charge stems from a thumb drive that Sahagian is alleged to have had containing multiple images of child pornography.
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Arlington Acting Chief of Police Julie Flaherty have confirmed that Peter Sahagian, 61, of Arlington, was arraigned yesterday in Cambridge District Court on one count of possession of child pornography.. visit: https://t.co/S0RuYhaY60
— Arlington, MA Police (@ArlingtonMAPD) May 23, 2019
A preliminary investigation found that the images in Sahagian's possession were downloaded from the Internet on his home computer and does not indicate that images contained on the flash drive are of patients, Ryan said.
Sahagian was arrested without incident Wednesday, one day after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
#BREAKING: A man who works as a nurse in the pediatric unit at Cambridge Hospital charged with child pornography, authorities say. Peter Sahagian, 61, released on personal recognizance, ordered to stay away from children under 18 and Internet. https://t.co/h27HnRALXq
— Maria Papadopoulos (@MariaTVNews) May 23, 2019
Acting on a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Arlington police and a representative from the FBI's Human Trafficking-Child Exploitation Task Force visited Sahagian's home on May 16. Authorities began investigating after receiving a tip that Sahagian had downloaded an image of child pornography using the search engine Bing.
Investigators examined a thumb drive, allegedly belonging to Sahagian that contained multiple pornographic images of minor females, Ryan said.
Sahagian is due back in court on July 24.
Cox Media Group