Ivy League Alum and LGBT Activist Arrested for Child Pornography

(Top) Roy "Trey" Farmer (Mercer County Prosecutor's Office) (Bottom) Students walk on campus at Princeton University in New Jersey on Feb. 4, 2020. Thomas Cain/Getty Images

A Princeton alum and LGBT activist has been arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography. On March 22, police in Mercer County New Jersey arrested Roy “Trey” Farmer. Mr. Farmer was taken into custody without incident following the execution of a search warrant at his home carried out by the Mercer County Tactical Response Team and Homeland Security Investigations Trenton. He has been charged with one count of third-degree possession of child sexual abuse material, a felony with a punishment of up to five years in jail and a $15,000 fine.

A statement emailed to The Epoch Times from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s office disclosed that detectives from the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit received an alert from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in January 2024 indicating a person in Mercer County had uploaded an item depicting the sexual abuse of a child. Subsequently, an investigation led to Mr. Farmer’s identification as a suspect. During the operation, authorities seized several items of potential evidentiary value marking a significant development in the ongoing investigation.

“He is charged with one count of third-degree possession of child sexual abuse material.  The prosecutor’s office has filed a motion to detain Farmer pending trial.” the statement read. A detention hearing was originally scheduled for March 27, however, it has been postponed to next week.  He is currently being held in the Mercer County Correction Center.

In the state of New Jersey, under statute 2C:24-4. Endangering Welfare of Children, a “person commits a crime of the third degree if he knowingly possesses, knowingly views, or knowingly has under his control, through any means, including the Internet, less than 1,000 items depicting the sexual exploitation or abuse of a child.”

Mr. Farmer is the President of Queer Princeton Alumni and serves on the board of the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York.  He is also the president of the Harvard Glee Club Foundation.

The Epoch Times reached out to Queer Princeton Alumni and New York Philharmonic for a statement.

This is not the first time someone associated with Princeton has been accused of possessing child pornography. In 2018, Gregory Cantrell was arrested as part of Operation Trading Post. Monmouth County charged him with one count of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child for child pornography. Mr. Cantrell was the associate director for workplace safety at Princeton University. According to the Office of the Monmouth County Prosecutor, they received a tip from the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children that Mr. Cantrell uploaded an explicit image of a child to Bing Image.

In 2015, an ex-Princeton University men’s soccer assistant coach Jorge Roman pleaded guilty to possessing over 600 images of child pornography. Mr. Roman was working as a youth soccer coach at the time of his arrest. He was sentenced to three years in prison and an additional five years of supervised release.