Man indicted in CARES act fraud now accused of having child sex abuse images

ROCHESTER - A Rochester, man was indicted Wednesday on a charge of possession of child pornography.

Heath Gauthier, 46, will appear in federal court in Concord at a later unspecified date, according to a statement sent Thursday from the US Attorneys Office.

Gauthier was earlier indicted on Feb. 15, on charges of wire fraud, attempted wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft in connection with his alleged fraudulent applications for more than $1 million in CARES Act loans. He was arrested on Feb. 16, after which investigators executed a search warrant on his residence and person. The search warrant authorized the search of his electronic devices. Subsequently, investigators located one or more computer disks and other material that contained one or more images of child sexual abuse material, according to a statement from the US Attorneys Office..

The charge of possession of child pornography provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. If a defendant has a qualifying prior conviction, the charge of possession of child pornography provides for a sentence of up to 20 years and at least 10 years. IRS and the FBI led the investigation.

An indictment is not an indication of guilt, but rather that enough evidence has been presented to a grand jury to move forward to trial.