Norwich student facing child porn accusation
Toolbox
By Peter Hirschfeld Times Argus Staff - Published: May 6, 2005
BARRE – Two months after Washington County prosecutors charged a Norwich cadet with felony possession of child pornography, a second Norwich University cadet has been arrested for downloading explicit pictures of children.
Stan Bluestein, a 19-year-old Buffalo Grove, Ill., resident, faces a maximum of six years in prison for three misdemeanor charges of possession of child pornography. Bluestein pleaded not guilty to the charges Thursday in Vermont District Court in Barre. He was released into his parents' custody.
Cadet Morgan Redes, also 19, faces up to seven years in jail for two child pornography charges that were brought against him in early March. Police arrested the Browns Mills, N.J., resident after his roommate saw the illegal pictures and contacted Norwich security.
Norwich administration confronted Bluestein April 25 after the school's computer-monitoring system red-flagged internet activity on the defendant's laptop computer. As per school policy, Norwich officials conducted a search on Bluestein's computer that revealed pictures of naked boys, according to court affidavits.
Norwich alerted Northfield police, who found almost 300 such pictures on Bluestein's hard drive, affidavits say.
"(Norwich) has a program that picks up on key words, so if someone was typing in 'child pornography' or 'little boy sex' or that sort of thing, it picks that up," Northfield Police Chief Jeff Shaw said. "Their tech people discovered this was being done. We were called and went over and seized the computer."
Bluestein admitted to downloading the pictures, according to sworn police testimony, but said he did not know the pictures were illegal.
Shaw said he does not think the recent arrests indicate a larger problem at Norwich.
"Anytime you put a lot of people in one area from different cultures, you may find things," Shaw said. "I'm not going to say it's unusual to have two arrests at one school in this short time period."
Shaw said he appreciates the proactive enforcement efforts at the private military school. Students enrolled at Norwich sign an agreement saying they're aware the school may monitor their internet activity.
"Norwich has an 'acceptable-use' Internet policy in place for students," Norwich spokesman Mark Albury said. "Certain filters and scrubbers are in place to pick up on unauthorized activity."
Although both men have been charged with possession of child pornography, only Redes' alleged activity drew the more severe felony charge. Pictures depicting "lewd exhibition" of a child's genitals carry a two-year maximum; pictures depicting sex acts warrant a possible five-year felony charge. Shaw said Bluestein's computer will undergo further scrutiny at the Vermont Crime Lab and that, depending on the results of the search, more charges could follow.
Bluestein was released on the conditions that he not have contact with children under 16 years old and that he not access the Internet without his parents' supervision.
It is Norwich University policy not to comment on disciplinary procedures and the school would not say whether the students are still attending.
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