AUBURN — John “Jack” Callahan secretly watched, videotaped and molested troubled kids who sought refuge in a spare room of his Mechanic Falls home, according to court records.

A three-page arrest affidavit filed in Androscoggin County Superior Court portrays a 54-year-old man who accumulated a library of illegal recordings filmed through holes in his bedroom and bathroom walls at 64 Libby Road.

Twice, he molested boys while they slept, the affidavit said.

Mechanic Falls Police Chief Jeffrey Goss arrested Callahan on Oct.7. Callahan was charged with gross sexual assault, unlawful sexual contact, sexual exploitation of a minor, sexual abuse of a minor and possession of sexually explicit materials, according to the complaint filed with the court.

He is being held at the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn on $25,000 cash bail, awaiting action by a grand jury.

Meanwhile, the investigation continues, said Goss, who has declined to talk about the specifics of the case.

Callahan was a longtime volunteer with local teenagers, serving for at least 12 years on the town’s Recreation Committee. He sometimes sold candy and soft drinks at the snack shack beside the town-run ball fields.

The work placed him in regular contact with local kids.

Chief Goss interviewed Callahan on Oct. 1 as part of an invasion of privacy report, according the affidavit.

A few days earlier, police served Callahan with a search warrant. At that time, police found the holes and recovered at least some of Callahan’s recordings.

In his interview, Callahan told Goss that he started having kids stay at his house after he divorced his wife, the affidavit said. The spying and molestation followed.

The abuse goes back at least four years, according to court papers.

On Oct. 1, the same day Goss met with Callahan, the police chief alerted Mechanic Falls Town Manager John Hawley of the investigation.

Hawley placed Callahan on immediate leave. On Monday, the Mechanic Falls Town Council removed Callahan from the Recreation Committee.

Callahan is employed by the Auburn Public Works Department.

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