Massachusetts
Massachusetts National Guard member charged with child pornography
The feds say a Massachusetts National Guard master sergeant arrested on child pornography exploited his own kin and claimed to have sexually molested two of them before they were 2 years old.
Nicholas Wells, 43, stationed at Otis Air National Guard Base in Sandwich as part of the 102 Security Forces, was arrested earlier this week at his home and charged with both possession and distribution of child pornography. He consented to voluntary detention at his initial appearance in federal court in Boston on Thursday, according to court records.
“The charges against Nicholas Wells are very serious. Criminal activity is not compatible with our values as an organization and will not be tolerated in our ranks,” the Massachusetts National Guard told the Herald through a spokesperson. “These alleged crimes are separate from his military service and as such, the civilian criminal justice system holds jurisdiction. Any further inquiries should be directed to the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”
Allegations
The FBI affidavit supporting the charges includes horrific details of Wells’ alleged deeds.
Not only did Special Agent Derek Black allegedly find 312 images and 109 videos of suspected child pornography on Wells’ phone, but he also says that Wells wrote at length of his desire for little girls and even claimed to have sexually assaulted two of young family members while they were still in diapers.
That’s according to three alleged chats in the Kik messaging app with an undercover law enforcement agent that are included in the affidavit.
Wells allegedly created the pseudonym “Chris Davis” for his Kik account — but the investigation found that the account posts from an IP address that points straight to the home of Wells and his wife.
Wells in the Kik chats shared fully clothed photos of all four of his children during a trip to Dollywood, the Dolly Parton-themed amusement park in Tennessee, according to the affidavit, before also sharing a nearly 2-minute child pornography video of different young girls.
When the FBI executed a search warrant on March 5, Wells allegedly admitted to the allegations when he agreed to speak with agents in a recorded interview.
He said that he doesn’t know where he obtained the child pornography video he shared in the chats, but that “he generally copied and pasted videos depicting child pornography from chats on Kik.”
“WELLS further admitted that he watches videos depicting child pornography and his preference is videos (and photos) that involve underage girls,” the affidavit states.
Career
Wells obtained the rank of master sergeant, E-7, in November 2022 and has earned three commendation medals — one each from the Army, Navy and Air Force — and achievement medals from the Army and Air Force, according to the Massachusetts National Guard. He joined the organization in November 1998.
The Guard removed Wells from his full-time position, barred him from Otis and suspended his security clearance on March 5, 2024. His “scheduled separation date” is Nov. 1, 2024.
Originally Published:
Massachusetts
Two men indicted for Hinsdale robbery after ‘cigarette trail’ leads through Vermont, Massachusetts
HINSDALE, N.H. (ABC22/FOX44) – Two men from Massachusetts have been indicted after they allegedly stole more than $200,000 in cigarettes and fled in a stolen U-Haul van before setting it on fire.
According to court documents, the men robbed the T-Bird Mini Mart on Brattleboro Road in Hinsdale, New Hampshire back on March 15. They then allegedly drove the U-Haul north into Brattleboro, Vermont before heading south on Interstate 91 down in Massachusetts.
Cartons of cigarettes reportedly fell from the back of the van as it drove through Brattleboro, which were estimated to be worth more than $50,000. The “trail of cigarettes” was reportedly used by investigators examining surveillance footage to track the path of the van leading up to the arrest of two suspects last week.
Richard Conner, 64, of Greenfield, Massachusetts, and James Ferguson, 66, of Worcester, Massachusetts, were arrested on Friday.
According to court documents, Ferguson was also seen on camera earlier in March stealing the U-Haul van in Northampton, Massachusetts.
The two men now face federal charges under the Hobbs Act and, if convicted, could spend up to 20 years in prison.
BOSTON (WWLP) – The Healey-Driscoll Administration and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation announced the opening of 24 swimming pools for the summer season across the state.
This initiative includes the return of its free Learn to Swim Program for children and expanded lifeguard services at 30 DCR swimming areas. Registration for the free swimming lessons begins on Monday, June 22, providing children between the ages of 4 and 12 the opportunity to learn life-saving skills.
The DCR’s efforts aim to provide residents, visitors and families with safe places to swim and cool off during the summer. This commitment to water safety is supported by extending lifeguard coverage to seven days a week, which began last Saturday, running from 10:15 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., though continued coverage is subject to staff availability.
DCR Commissioner Nicole LaChapelle emphasized the importance of aquatic education. “Every child deserves the opportunity to learn how to swim. Swimming is more than a summer activity –it’s a life-saving skill that helps children safely enjoy our pools, lakes and beaches with confidence,” LaChapelle said. “By offering free swimming lessons at pools across Massachusetts, we’re helping remove barriers for families while helping more children safely enjoy the outdoor spaces that belong to all of us.”
The Learn to Swim Program will be offered at 19 DCR pools throughout Massachusetts and is structured into three sessions during the summer. Each session consists of eight half-hour group swim classes tailored for beginner-level swimmers and organized by age.
The curriculum for the classes is based on the American Red Cross and focuses on water safety and basic swimming skills. Registration is required and will operate on a first-come, first-served basis, closing once classes at each facility are full.
Participating DCR pools for the program are located in Agawam, Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Chicopee, Clinton, Fall River, Fitchburg, Hyde Park, Lawrence, Malden, Melrose, Milford, Somerville, Springfield, Watertown and Worcester.
The DCR is also actively recruiting certified lifeguards for its beaches and swimming pools for the current summer season. Positions are available through Labor Day and offer competitive hourly wages ranging from $22 to $27, depending on the position and associated certifications. More information about lifeguarding opportunities and application details are available on the agency’s lifeguarding webpage.
Beyond lifeguard services, the DCR maintains water safety at its state beaches and waterfronts through regular water quality testing at all 79 designated swimming areas. These areas are equipped with ropes and buoys to delineate swimming sections. Safety signage, which can be translated into nine languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese and Traditional Chinese via a QR code, is also present.
To enhance safety, life rings are available for public use at both guarded and unguarded swimming areas in case of an emergency. All DCR swimming pools are equipped with chair lifts to provide water access. Several pools also feature ramps or zero-depth entry and select pools and spray decks offer beach wheelchairs for use.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WWLP. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WWLP staff before being published.
Local News Headlines
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Download the 22News Plus app on your TV to watch live-streaming newscasts and video on demand.
If you watch a movie, send an email, or put your photos in the cloud, there is a data center involved. With the rise of AI, there is more need for data storage and that means more power and more water. So, more Massachusetts communities are saying they don’t want them.
Data centers are growing increasingly unpopular. How unpopular? Polling shows people would rather live near a nuclear power plant. A Gallup poll found 71% of Americans would oppose a data center being built near their home and 53% would oppose a nuclear reactor.
Communities across the country have been fighting to stop the construction of mega sized data centers used to power the future of artificial intelligence.
In Massachusetts, several projects have been put on hold. The city of Lowell recently passed a one-year moratorium to stop the building or expansion of data centers. Lowell is the site of the largest data center in the state.
Markley data center in Lowell
The Markley data center is a mammoth building. It was built by Markley in 2015 on the site of an old Prince Spaghetti factory. Markley cleaned up the lot, painted the building black and set up a complex digital warehouse which stores data from more than a hundred customers ranging from hospitals to universities to police stations.
Like all things data center, this one comes with controversy. Jake Fortes lives in his childhood home where he takes care of his elderly parents. The data center, about 100 feet away, dwarfs his home.
Fortes says the building has nicknames including the “dungeon” and the “Death Star.”
“It’s nicknamed by a lot of residents in the neighborhood the dungeon,” Fortes said. “Because it seriously is just this black building that looms over us.”
Fortes said the rows of industrial air conditioners on the roof of the data center constantly hum and he claims exhaust from the four metal chimneys that rise from the data center’s emergency generators flow toward his bedroom windows.
“You will hear the A/C units. That’s a constant. And it’s worse in the summer,” Fortes said.
Markley has two data centers in Massachusetts. They built their first on top of Macy’s in downtown Boston in 2013.
From Lowell to Los Angeles, there are coast to coast concerns about what these data centers can do to the environment. From the massive amount of energy they use, to the incredible amount of water they need to keep the equipment from overheating. Some large data centers can use up to five million gallons of water every day. But the owners of the Lowell data center say it is not a drain on resources.
WBZ-TV’s David Wade asked Markley for tour of the data center, which they never do, and they agreed. They have grown frustrated with the negative narrative of data centers across the country and wanted to show they are different than the huge data centers built solely for AI companies.
Markley’s corporate VP Adam Burnham took him around the 350,000 square foot facility. The front entrance is teeming with a few dozen people, filled with colorful artwork and a TV monitor showing old video of a train that used to run through the property.
Beyond that there are long hallways with white tile floors and white walls that lead to rooms full of loud machines taking in, transforming and distributing large amounts of electricity throughout the building. How much electricity? Markley doesn’t say. Most data centers don’t. It’s why some lawmakers like Senator Elizabeth Warren are calling for more transparency from all data centers. But Markley’s Boston location boasts up to 30 megawatts of power, which is comparable to what tens of thousands of homes could use at any given time.
“Many petabytes” of data
There is a constant hum from the air conditioning machinery that helps to cool down the racks of servers.
How many servers are in the building? “There must be thousands,” Burnham said. “From hundreds of different customers.”
And how much data is that? “It would be hard to even quantify it. To use technical terms, it would be petabytes,” Burnham said. “Many petabytes for many customers.”
You have heard of megabytes and gigabytes but what is a petabyte? Well, just one petabyte is equal to roughly 250 million high resolution photos or the storage capacity of 250,000 smartphones or 13 years’ worth of continuous high-definition movies.
Markley says it stores data from all different types of companies. Financial companies, life science companies, universities, public safety companies. All those servers need lots of water to feed the system that keeps them cool.
How much water is used?
Some data centers use millions of gallons of water every single day. Markley says over the past year, they have used between 60,000 and 120,000 gallons of water per day. Those numbers match up with some of their water bills that WBZ was able to obtain.
Besides the effect on water and power, another criticism of data centers is once construction is done, they don’t create many jobs. Markley brought Lou Antonellis, a representative from the IBEW, an electrical workers union, to our shoot. Wade asked how many union workers he had working inside the building.
“Right now, it’s a little bit of a slow period. Probably about a dozen,” Antonellis said. That’s it. A dozen. Antonellis said there were also another dozen pipe fitters inside. He said there can be 80-100 workers when there’s a big project on site.
Hopes to expand in Lowell
But Antonellis and the IBEW say they really want Markley to expand. New buildings mean new construction jobs. WBZ learned Markley has been buying more land nearby with hopes of expanding, including an old power plant up the road. But they have a problem. The city of Lowell recently voted for a one-year moratorium on data centers. It means no new building, and no expansion.
On the final stop on the tour, the Markley people wanted to show the emergency generators that neighbors have complained about.
An hour earlier, Jake Fortes, the neighbor who calls the building the Death Star, had predicted they would take David Wade to the generators, and it would be less noisy than usual.
“Usually when they detect that there’s a reporter coming, they will turn it off and it will go very quiet and you will hear the birds,” Fortes said.
When they took David Wade to the emergency generators, which they fire up for a test every week for five minutes, you could barely hear the machines over the sounds of chirping birds.
“So, it’s not under a complete load, but this is the typical noise you’re going to get,” Burnham said.
Wade asked if the generators weren’t running at “full load” were they running at 20%, 50%, 80%? They couldn’t answer.
Then Wade asked if he thought neighbors had been exaggerating about the noise at the data center and the answer was clear. “I think they’re exaggerating, yes,” Burnham said.
If you have a question you’d like us to look into, please email questioneverything@cbsboston.com.
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