Abington man charged with having child porn; Also charged with attempt to commit rape
Abington police officers Michael Carini and Michael Aziz arrest Francis McKiernan of Abington at his home Wednesday night on charges of possession of child pornography. (LISA BUL/The Patriot Ledger)
By COURTNEY HOLLANDS
The Patriot Ledger

ABINGTON - Police say an Abington man had more than a thousand pornographic images of children on his home computer and tried to solicit sex from what he thought was a 14-year-old girl in an Internet chat room.

Francis McKiernan, 58, of 28 Randolph St., was arrested and led from his apartment in handcuffs about 7 p.m.

He is charged with possession of child pornography, enticing a child under the age of 16 and attempting to commit rape, police said.

‘‘These are very serious charges,'' said Deputy Police Chief Christopher Cutter. ‘‘If we can prevent one child from becoming a victim, then we have succeeded.''

Police began investigating McKiernan on Feb. 24, after the department was contacted by the Kids Defense Team, an agency that routinely goes into online chat rooms looking for people who may be preying on children, Cutter said.

A member of the agency, posing as a 14-year-old girl from New Jersey, began chatting with McKiernan, Cutter said. The person posing as the child asked for McKiernan's phone number and he gave it.

Kids Defense Team traced the number to McKiernan and sent a copy of the online conversation to Abington police.

‘‘During the conversation, it became quite clear that McKiernan was trying to entice the child,'' Cutter said. ‘‘There were several innuendos about sex. He talked about meeting the girl or about having the girl meet him.''

Although police still aren't sure where McKiernan works, he had mentioned that he ‘‘worked for a limo company and could send a car to come get the girl,'' during the online chat, Cutter said.

Officer Michael Aziz is Abington's computer crimes officer and also a member of the Metro Law Enforcement Council's Computer Crimes unit, Cutter said. On Friday, Aziz got a search warrant for McKiernan's apartment and seized three computers.

So far, police have found more than 1,000 pieces of child pornography on the computer McKiernan used to chat online, Cutter said. ‘‘We've spent about 16 to 20 hours looking on that computer so far, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.''

‘‘We were sickened by the photos we saw,'' Cutter said. ‘‘It really opened my eyes to what's going on out there, and how some small children are abused.''

‘‘We are also looking to see how many other people (McKiernan) was contacting, or if he disseminated porn on the Internet,'' he said.

Although Cutter said it would ‘‘be hard to comment'' on McKiernan's background at this time, he does not believe the suspect has a criminal background in child pornography.
Bail was set at $1,000 last night. McKiernan was scheduled to appear in Brockton District Court today.

‘‘Parents need to be aware of the dangers on the Internet,'' Cutter said. ‘‘They need to be aware of what their kids can be subjected to.''

He noted that the Abington Police Department runs Internet safety classes for parents.