Makem to face no charges on child porn images

Conor Makem (Rochester Police photo)

ROCHESTER – Finally some good news for Conor Makem, the former Rochester Times and Foster’s Daily Democrat reporter who was indicted on charges of felony falsifying of physical evidence and 19 misdemeanors of invasion of privacy in a bathroom camera scandal that came to light last fall.

Rochester Police said today they will not be pursuing any child porn charges against him, although they confirmed that such images were found on one computer he used.

“Although there were child porn images on the computer, it wasn’t only his computer,” Rochester Police Capt. Paul Toussaint said today.

The upstairs bathroom at Merchants Plaza where the camera was found.

Toussaint added that the computer was owned by the Rochester Times, was several years old and had been used by several different people.

“It was not a computer he had exclusive access to,” noted Toussaint, who added that none of the children whose images were on the iMac computer are thought to be from the local area.

Police and forensic detectives had painstakingly scoured the computer since it was seized last fall after several dozen images of child porn were initially identified.

Meanwhile, Makem, 45, still faces a jury trial on the other charges, which allege he placed a camera in a second-floor women’s bathroom a few yards away from the former offices of Foster’s Rochester bureau in the Merchant’s Plaza in Rochester.
Makem, who is free on $15,000 cash bail, was initially arrested on Oct. 17, a week and a half after police began an investigation after the woman who first discovered the camera called police to ask if Makem had contacted them about the device as he had promised her, and officers realized he had not.
Police on Oct. 10 executed a search warrant at the Foster’s Rochester Bureau at Merchants Plaza and seized computers and other electronic devices used by Makem, including some owned by Foster's. They made the initial arrest on falsifying physical evidence and several invasion of privacy counts on Oct. 17, then followed that up a week later with more Invasion of Privacy charges alleging more victims. Makem was terminated by Foster’s after his initial arrest.
A falsification of evidence conviction can bring up to seven years in prison, while invasion of privacy, a Class A misdemeanor, can draw a year each in the county jail.

The falsifying of evidence charge stems from his alleged tampering and dumping of the camera.

The female victims listed in police affidavits were unknowingly videotaped “in various stages of undress” inside the bathroom.
Rochester Police also investigated several computers and electronic devices used by Makem, including the infamous iMac.

Makem had resided in Dover, N.H., but moved to Amesbury, Mass., soon after the initial charges were made. He has hired Att. Timothy Harrington of high-powered law firm Shaheen & Gordon of Dover as his defense counsel. The indictment handed down by a Strafford County grand jury in January still listed Makem’s old address as 5 West Concord St., Dover.
An accomplished musician in a band that plays traditional Irish music, Makem had to miss a whirlwind Music Tour of Ireland hosted by his Makem and Spain Brothers band late last year after surrendering both his American and Irish passports as part of his bail conditions.
Makem, who was born in County Louth, Ireland, has dual citizenship.
The Makem and Spain Brothers band tours nationwide. Prior to his arrest, the band had recently played venues in New York, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
A concert scheduled this fall at the Rochester Opera House was postponed.
The band is currently touring without Conor Makem, a person familiar with the band said today.

The initial police investigation began on Oct. 7 when the woman who first discovered the suspected camera wondered what a blinking red light was doing in the upstairs Merchants Plaza bathroom and asked Makem to take a look. She said they agreed it should be turned over to police and he said he'd take care of it. Later in the day, according to the affidavit, the woman said she got a phone message from Makem saying he had given it to police and they had said they would be in touch with them if they needed anything.

A few hours later she called police only to find out they had never been contacted by Makem, nor had the camera been turned in.