Passenger on flight to Boston arraigned on child pornography charges
BOSTON, July 18, 2024 – A Dartmouth man was arraigned Wednesday in East Boston BMC after another passenger reported seeing disturbing photos and videos of prepubescent children on his phone during a flight from Nashville to Boston, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.
JED COHEN, 74, of Dartmouth was charged with possession of child pornography, disseminating photographs of sexual or intimate parts of a child and paying for sexual conduct with a child under 18. Judge Debra DelVecchio ordered Cohen held on $10,000 bail with home confinement including GPS monitoring if released. Cohen is due back in court on August 16 for a probable cause hearing.
At about 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday Massachusetts State Police were notified that a passenger on an inbound JetBlue flight from Nashville reported to flight crew that another passenger, later identified as Cohen, was viewing disturbing photos and having “sickening” text message conversations.
The witness said Cohen started this behavior before takeoff and was on his phone for most of the flight. Cohen was observed looking at multiple photos and videos of various girls, ranging from toddlers to around 10- and 11-year-olds.
The witness provided the flight crew with notes of his observations including “asking on WhatsApp: ‘how old a girl is’—'answer was 4’—‘how young is she?’—'she’s five dear, she’s all you need’—'how much does it cost to (expletive) her for a night?’”
A flight crew member also reported seeing two photos on Cohen’s phone. One showed a clothed girl, around 10, with pigtails. The second was of another girl, a little older, naked from the waist up.
Troopers met the plane at Logan Airport and spoke to Cohen, who provided the passcode to unlock his phone. Troopers observed messages consistent with the witness’s information. They found photos of underage girls in sheer lingerie, including a photo of a naked underage girl. Troopers also found a photo of a prepubescent girl performing sexual acts on an adult male, to which Cohen sent a message saying, “I love her.”
Investigators found additional messages containing videos and photos of sexual acts between adult males and underaged girls. One message contained Cohen inquiring about sexual encounters with a three-year-old at his condo for a fee.
“To call these allegations disturbing is a vast understatement. Sexual exploitation of any kind inflicts lifelong scars, and the harm increases exponentially when the victims are children. I thank this passenger for alerting the flight crew and I’m grateful for the crew’s swift action in notifying authorities,” Hayden said.
All charged individuals are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office serves the communities of Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop, Mass. The office handles over 20,000 cases a year. More than 160 attorneys in the office practice in nine district and municipal courts, Suffolk Superior Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Supreme Judicial Court, and the Boston Juvenile Courts. The office employs some 300 people and offers a wide range of services and programs to serve anyone who comes in contact with the criminal justice system. This office is committed to educating the public about the services we provide, our commitment to crime prevention, and our dedication to keeping the residents of Suffolk County safe.
James Borghesani, Chief of Communications