Ex-EMT charged with molesting children found guilty of possessing child sex abuse images

BRENTWOOD — A former Kensington EMT accused of sexually abusing three children was found guilty Wednesday of 15 counts of possessing child sexual abuse images.

Todd Burnim, 56, is still awaiting trial on 12 aggravated felonious sexual assault counts and two felonious sexual assault charges police say he committed against three minors under the age of 13 between 2012 and 2019.

Wednesday, in a separate trial, he was found guilty by a jury of possession of child sex abuse images discovered on his computer and other devices during a police investigation into the abuse charges.

Burnim will be sentenced in approximately 60 days, according to an order from Judge David Ruoff.

Burnim previously served as an EMT for Kensington and East Kingston fire departments as well as worked for Action Ambulance Service, according to the Kensington police. He was arrested in January 2022 after a two-hour standoff with police on charges of allegedly drugging and abusing three victims over the course of several years.

Police conducted a search of his home and a forensic examination of the electronic devices seized revealed child sex abuse images on a hard drive of his desktop computer.

The sexual abuse images case was separated from the sex abuse charges after Burnim’s attorney successfully argued they were unrelated to the three victims.

This month, a Rockingham County grand jury indicted Burnim on 26 more counts of possession of child sex abuse images.

Burnim is scheduled for an April 24 arraignment on the new charges.

Rockingham County Attorney Patricia Conway did not respond to an inquiry as to what led to the new indictments.

She said in 2022 that police found 800 child sex abuse images on a hard drive on his desktop computer, as well as five on a mobile phone and five more on external drives. Prosecutors used 15 images to charge Burnim with the first 15 charges for which he was found guilty.

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Ex-EMT still faces trial for sexually assaulting three children

Burnim is scheduled to go to trial in July on the aggravated felonious sexual assault charges.

According to court documents, he is accused of sexually abusing one child from the age of 6 to 12 years old and another from age 9 to 12. A third child was sexually abused in 2017 for a period of a few weeks, according to police.

Kensington Police Chief Scott Cain previously said that based on the evidence they found during the investigation, police believe Burnim drugged his victims before engaging in criminal sexual behavior.

According to court documents, one child described Burnim giving her "green liquid from a syringe" that tasted like an apple as well as a small white pill that would make her sleepy before the alleged assaults.

Another child said Burnim gave her sips of green liquid that tasted like apples and "gas that came in a white package and looked like whipped cream but wasn't whipped cream."

"The defendant would make (the alleged victim) wear an oxygen mask and administer the gas into the mask while she was wearing it," stated Conway in court documents. "After inhaling the gas and drinking the liquid, (she) would become dizzy and sometimes pass out. (She) remembers waking up undressed and having no idea how she became undressed."

Court documents state that police executed a search warrant and found white pills in a clear plastic baggie in his kitchen, as well as bottles of medicine and pills in a safe inside the closet of the master bedroom. They also recovered two syringes from the nightstand in Burnim's bedroom and multiple boxes of whipped cream aerosol-nitrous oxide canisters, commonly known as "whippets."

Also seized in the search were sex toys, a digital camera, multiple cell phones, multiple hard drives, a laptop and a desktop computer.

If you need help

Seacoast Media Group provides the following information as a public service when reporting on cases of alleged sexual violence:

Haven is a violence prevention and support service for men, women and children affected by domestic and sexual violence. Haven’s 24-hour hotline is 1-603-994-SAFE (7233). This is a confidential crisis support line in the Seacoast and Rochester region staffed by trained advocates. Information: havennh.org

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Todd Burnim found guilty of possessing child sex abuse images