PARIS – A former volunteer at Waterford Elementary School was indicted by an Oxford County grand jury Wednesday for possession of sexually explicit materials involving minors.

Richard W. Beebe, 68, of 67 Beyer Road in Waterford, was indicted following a February investigation by Maine State Police.

He was arrested by Oxford County sheriff’s deputies and booked at the jail Thursday just before 2 p.m. He was released on either $10,000 surety or $500 cash bail at 3:40 p.m. A jail official said Thursday she couldn’t say which bail Beebe posted.

A call to Beebe’s home in Waterford seeking comment was not returned Thursday.

FBI investigation

State police were contacted Feb. 13 by FBI agents in Portland after an investigator posing online as a single mother of two children under the age of 5 had allegedly conversed with Beebe via Yahoo Messenger.

According to an affidavit filed by state police Detective John Hainey at Oxford County District Court, Beebe asked what sex acts the mother performed on her children. He later denied having child pornography on his computer when Hainey questioned him.

But Beebe subsequently admitted to having as many as 100 pictures on his computer of girls as young as 5 years old performing sex acts.

Beebe agreed to turn over his computer terminal and external hard drive for a forensic investigation. Detective Scott Bradeen of the Maine Computer Crimes Task Force began searching the drives on Feb. 15 and immediately found numerous sexually explicit pictures, police said.

Hainey was granted a search warrant on Feb. 20, and seized several materials from Beebe’s home. These included CDs, floppy discs, a digital camera, and three laptops.

Beebe is a former U.S. postmaster and has volunteered and served as a substitute teacher for SAD 17. He also taught classes at the Waterford Public Library on how to navigate the Internet.

He is not registered as a sex offender and has no prior criminal convictions or traffic violations. However, state Trooper Adam Fillebrown, who lives in Waterford, said he has received complaints from parents about Beebe hugging children and letting them sit on his lap.

SAD 17 Superintendent Mark Eastman said substitute teachers are subjected to criminal background checks, and that Beebe had not raised any red flags. He wrote that Beebe had only served one day as a substitute.

Beebe was barred from school grounds once the investigation was revealed, and security at the school was tightened.

Investigators found no pornographic images of students from Waterford Elementary School. Beebe did send a nonpornographic image of a student to the FBI investigator during their conversations.

The indictment charges Beebe with a Class C felony. If convicted, he could serve up to five years in jail.