Update: Alan Kochis was arrested by Brewer police Thursday night. Read the latest here.

A top-ranking official in the Bangor School Department has resigned after the Maine State Police seized computers from his home because he had allegedly uploaded a sexually explicit image of two boys to the internet.





A Maine State Police special agent has referred the allegations involving Alan Kochis, the school department’s longtime business services director, to the Penobscot County district attorney’s office for possible charges. Superintendent Betsy Webb said at a Wednesday night school committee meeting that Kochis had resigned from his position.

According to a police affidavit filed in court in Bangor, the Maine State Police received a report of the uploaded image from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which monitors child pornography possession and dissemination. Maine law enforcement officials then traced the image to Kochis using his device’s Internet Protocol, or IP, address.

Citing probable cause that Kochis was in possession of and disseminating child pornography, police then secured a warrant to search his Brewer home and seize any related evidence, including electronic devices, the affidavit said.

Police estimated one of the boys in the uploaded image to be between ages 5 and 8, and the other to be between 9 and 13, according to the affidavit written by Special Agent Jason Bosco of the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit.

Kochis declined to comment Thursday, and Webb did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Bosco on Thursday referred questions to the Penobscot County district attorney’s office. District Attorney Marianne Lynch declined to comment on a pending investigation.

On Feb. 7, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a report from Bing Image, an online image repository, that a user had uploaded a sexually explicit image. The national center then traced the image to Maine and alerted the Maine State Police’s Computer Crimes Unit.

On May 16, after investigators linked the IP address to Kochis, Bosco seized at least three laptops and a desktop computer from Kochis’ Brewer home, according to the affidavit.

The Bangor School Department as of Thursday had a job posting accessible through its website for Kochis’ position.

The business services director is involved in preparing the school department’s annual budget, oversees the department’s accounting system, and manages purchasing and contracting, according to the job posting.

BDN reporter Judy Harrison contributed to this report.