Exeter youth baseball coach charged with possession of child sex abuse images
EXETER — A local youth baseball coach was arrested for allegedly possessing child sexual abuse images last week after police detected videos and pictures through his Verizon account.
Gregg Spaulding, 56, of Exeter, was being held in Rockingham County jail Wednesday on 26 counts of possession of child sexual abuse images, according to court documents. A coach for the Exeter Junior Baseball and Softball League, Spaulding was arrested June 30 after his home and car were searched earlier that month by police.
Exeter police say the images they found in his possession included those of children as young as toddlers engaged in sexual acts, including with an adult man. A police affidavit states there were photos found of a young child’s foot in what appears to be Spaulding’s bedroom.
Spaulding waived his arraignment and is scheduled for an evidentiary hearing in Rockingham Superior Court Thursday. He is prohibited from communicating with people under the age of 18 or using any kind of social media, according to court documents. His attorney Joseph Welch did not return a call seeking comment.
Patrick Flaherty, president of Exeter Junior Baseball and Softball League, said Spaulding has been removed as a coach with the league and that he notified families of the investigation Monday. Flaherty said in a statement that his son was on Spaulding’s team and asked parents to “please pray for our community.”
“As a league, we are shocked and saddened to be made aware of the investigation and fully supported the Exeter Police Department’s efforts,” Flaherty wrote in the message to parents. “As a father of an athlete that had this individual as a coach, I am sharing many of the emotions that reading this is bringing forth.”
Flaherty did not elaborate further on Spaulding’s time as a coach with the organization. The Exeter Junior Baseball and Softball League is a nonprofit volunteer organization that works with youth athletes ages 6 to 18 in Exeter, Brentwood, East Kingston, Kensington and Newfields.
Exeter youth baseball coach investigated after tip
Exeter police detective Bailey Teixeira wrote in an affidavit that she was assigned to a cyber tip regarding Spaulding through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The report was submitted by the Synchronoss cloud-based storage provider for content stored on the Verizon cloud.
The report showed a Verizon account with Spaulding’s information and indicated a file had been uploaded in March 2023 showing two children engaged in a sexual act. Further investigation revealed several uploads of images showing children involved in sexual acts.
The investigation led to a search warrant executed on June 15 at Spaulding’s residence that included his car, according to the affidavit. His cellphone was seized and examined forensically, Teixeira wrote, leading to the discovery of images on the phone that included toddlers and females younger than four.
Also found were photos from Facebook of children other than his own with bathing suits and leotards that had been downloaded from Facebook, the detective wrote. Police also learned Spaulding allegedly accessed “CP sharing communities” and chat rooms that have titles such as “chat with strangers” and “Naughty kids chat.” The chats were accessed multiple times, according to the affidavit.
Spaulding told police in an interview that he has a foot fetish and looks at photos and videos of “young feet” and has searched online for “young girl’s feet,” the affidavit states. He told police that things that are “objectionable” come up when he is searching for porn. He defined “objectionable” as videos with violence or young children involved in sex.
Spaulding told police he has also used what is known as the “dark web.”
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Exeter baseball coach charged with possession of child sex abuse images
