Acton man found guilty of possessing and receiving child sexual abuse material

A 44-year-old man was convicted Wednesday of possessing and receiving child sexual abuse materials after a two-day trial in federal court in Boston, Acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua S. Levy announced.

A jury convicted Patrick Baxter of Acton on one count each of possession of child pornography, receipt of child pornography and sexual exploitation of children, Levy’s office said in a statement. He will be sentenced on January 8th.

On at least three separate occasions in June and July 2021, Baxter downloaded child sexual abuse material from the Internet. About 427 video files depicting child sexual abuse were found on a computer hard drive that was seized during a search of his home, the statement said.

Baxter was arrested and charged in December 2022.

“It is difficult to find the words to describe how despicable the defendant’s conduct was, and today a jury agreed. “This man exploited a seven-year-old victim for his own perverse gratification and thought he could get away with it by hiding behind an encrypted device,” Levy said in the statement. “There is no higher priority in this office than protecting children from sexual exploitation, particularly by trusted adults.”

Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, said authorities were “grateful for the jury’s quick verdict.”

Baxter faces several decades in prison.