Mass. man arrested in child porn case Photographer allegedly fled to Canada

BANGOR – A Massachusetts school photographer wanted in that state for possession of child pornography waived extradition on Tuesday in U.S. District Court after apparently trying to avoid facing charges by walking across the border into Canada near Bridgewater.

Mark Rolfsema, 52, of Andover, Mass., was arrested by Canadian authorities on Sept. 27 in Centerville, New Bruswick, for illegally crossing the border.

He left the vehicle he had been driving in Maine and walked through the woods into Canada, according to court documents.

Rolfsema’s visit to Maine apparently was prompted when FBI agents based in Lowell, Mass., attempted to interview him at his apartment on Sept. 16. He refused to speak with them but did accept their business cards, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Boston.

A week later, the agents returned to the residence and executed a search warrant. Rolfsema was not home, but agents seized more than 500 computer discs and CD-ROMs as well as more than 80 videocassette tapes and a number of Internet printouts.

Agents later reviewed more than 4,000 images and determined that between 30 and 50 percent were images of children engaging in sexually explicit conduct, according to court documents.

The agents did not find a computer at the apartment but saw indications that a computer had been there.

On Sept. 24, the day after the FBI raided Rolfsema’s apartment, an officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police informed the agency that their suspect had been arrested and charged with entering Canada illegally.

He remained in the custody of Canadian authorities until Monday, when he was arrested and transported to Bangor.

Rolfsema had changed his appearance by cutting his hair and shaving the full beard he had had when agents first approached him on Sept. 16. He also had been asking around Bridgewater about how he could get across the border without going through a checkpoint, according to court documents.

The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency found the car Rolfsema had been driving the day he was arrested, an FBI spokeswoman said Wednesday. The car, found abandoned near the Bridgewater border crossing, was not registered to him.

Drug dogs made a positive identification, so the agents searched the car and found the cards the FBI agents had left with the suspect.

Mark Speary, an MDEA agent based in Houlton, said Wednesday that he could not discuss the search of Rolfsema’s vehicle because “we don’t have a case against him.”

Rolfsema is scheduled to be transported to Massachusetts early next week.