Chatroom Child Porn Tip Leads to Charges for Village Trustee

PELHAM, NY — Village Trustee Christopher Reim was arraigned in Pelham Town Court and charged with possessing and promoting an obscene sexual performance by a child, both felonies. Investigators raided his home Friday morning after getting a tip that he had uploaded child pornography to a website.

The investigators from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office High Technology Crime Bureau executed a search warrant at the 49-year-old's home at 14 Benedict Place, after a CyberTipline report was filed by the website Chatstep stating that a person at that location uploaded an image of child pornography to one of their chatrooms.

Westchester County District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr. alleged that during the execution of the warrant, Reim made admissions about having used Chatstep and looking online for images of children; and that a preliminary forensic examination of his computer devices indicated that he possessed images of sexual performances by children.

According to the village website, he has been a trustee since 2014. He is Managing Partner of Civitas Ventures, a venture capital fund, and is the General Partner for two funds for the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance, a national nonprofit. He is an adjunct professor at Columbia SIPA, Yale School of Management and the National Science Foundation.

His bail was set at $5,000 bond over $2,500 cash. His next court date is May 11, 2017.

The Pelham Police Department assisted in today’s warrant execution and their help is appreciated, Scarpino said.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Laura Forbes of the High Technology Crime Bureau. The charges are merely accusations and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.