Murray indicted on federal sex trafficking charges stemming from West Alton Marina investigation

John E. Murray, the former manager of West Alton Marina already facing multiple counts of sex assault on underage marina employees, has now been indicted for federal sex trafficking and child exploitation offenses.

Murray, 56, of Alton, was indicted by a federal grand jury on 12 counts of production of child pornography and four counts of sex trafficking of a minor.

U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young on Thursday shared news of the indictment, issued Monday.

The indictment alleges that Murray solicited minor employees of the marina for sexually explicit images and videos of themselves, often in exchange for cash. He is also accused of subjecting minor employees to unwanted sexual contact and sexual acts.

The offenses alleged in the indictment took place over the course of several years and date back to at least 2015, Young’s office said in a statement released to the media.

Murray has been in custody in the Belknap County Jail since his arrest in August 2021 on related state charges.

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

The child pornography charges allege that Murray enticed five underage victims to provide images of themselves engaging in various sexual activities between 2015 and April 2021. The sex trafficking charges allege Murray got two underage marina employees to “engage in sex acts in exchange for cash payments” and took images that were then used in “interstate and foreign commerce.”

Murray is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Concord Tuesday for an arraignment.

Murray was arrested in August 2021 after two marina employees went to Alton police and said they had allegedly been sexually assaulted by him. Federal authorities began investigating Murray’s actions soon afterward.

In October 2021 the Belknap County Attorney’s Office indicted Murray on three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, three counts of felonious sexual assault, and two counts of trafficking sexually explicit performances.

This past June, Murray was further indicted on three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, two counts of trafficking, one count of sexual penetration involving a victim aged 13 to 15, and one count of felonious sexual assault.

At the time of his arrest, Murray was also charged with six counts of manufacturing and/or buying child sex abuse images, but he was never indicted on those charges by the county attorney.

The federal indictment has resulted in a postponement of Murray’s trial on state charges.

Murray had been scheduled to go on trial in Belknap Superior Court next month. But on Wednesday — two days after the federal indictment was issued — Murray’s attorney requested a continuance.

“This matter has a number of moving parts in different courts. ... it is prudent to continue the November trial until the [prosecution] and the defense have a more concrete understanding of the full case landscape,” Murray’s attorney, Robin Malone, said in a motion seeking the postponement.

The trial on the state charges is now scheduled to take place in the last two weeks of May 2023, according to the court file.

The federal investigation into Murray involved participation by Homeland Security and the Alton Police Department, with assistance from the New Hampshire State Police, the New Hampshire Human Trafficking Collaborative Task Force, and the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kasey Weiland.