Gilford brothers indicted on child porn charges

LACONIA — Two Gilford men have been indicted on multiple charges of possessing and distributing child pornography.

Corey Perron, 34, of Liscomb Circle, in Gilford, was indicted on 14 counts of possessing child sex abuse images, and five counts of selling or exchanging such images. Matthew Perron, 31, also of Liscomb Circle, in Gilford, was indicted on 10 counts of selling and/or distributing child sex abuse images.

The two men are brothers, according to Assistant Belknap County Attorney Keith Cormier.

The indictments were issued by the latest session of the Belknap County grand jury.

An indictment is not an indication of guilt. Rather, it is a finding by a grand jury that enough evidence of an alleged crime exists to warrant bringing a case to trial.

The 9½-month-long investigation into the two men’s alleged activities began in February 2020 when Gilford police received multiple "cyber-tips" from the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The tips had been passed on to the state unit by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children which was notified after Facebook and Google became aware “of several instances in which the suspects uploaded and/or sent child sex abuse material using online profiles or emails,” according to affidavits filed in the case.

In November, Gilford police obtained a search warrant and went to the Perrons’s residence, where they searched the premises and confiscated “multiple devices and storage devices” belonging to the two men, the affidavits state.

They were arrested in January.

Since his arrest, Corey Perron has been held in preventive detention in the Belknap County Jail.

Matthew Perron is free on bail. However, he is prohibited from having any electronic device which can access the internet, and is forbidden from having any contact with children, except his own, who he can see only under supervision, Cormier said.