Sun Media Wire

A Rumford man was charged Thursday with distributing child pornography, and was immediately fired from his job at Sunday River Resort, according to Sunday River.

Jeremy Vashaw, 41, was arrested at his home on a single charge of dissemination of sexually explicit material of persons under the age of 12.

Vashaw was taken to the Oxford County Jail in Paris, where he was later released on $1,000 cash bail, a jail official said Thursday evening.

Vashaw’s first court appearance will be at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, April 17, in Oxford County Superior Court in Paris.

Members of the State Police Computer Crimes Unit seized Vashaw’s computer in December and found hundreds of images of children under the age of 12, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Vashaw was fired from his job as a banquet server at Sunday River Ski Resort on Thursday when his employer learned of the arrest.

Although the resort had no reason to believe the charges against Vashaw had any connection to his employment, “Sunday River is a family resort and we take the safety of our guests and staff very seriously,” Darcy Morse, director of communications for Sunday River, said.

“Upon learning of the information released by the state police today, Sunday River took immediate action to terminate Mr. Vashaw’s employment,” Morse said.

Vashaw, a Rumford native, has served on the Finance Committee since 2012; that committee is in the midst of setting the town’s 2014-15 budget and is scheduled to begin voting on department budgets on April 7.

A call to the chairman of the Finance Committee for comment was not returned.

Rumford Town Manager John Madigan said Thursday night in Mexico that it was too early to tell whether Vashaw would be removed from the committee.

He said Rumford selectmen will have to meet and decide the matter. In Rumford, he said the town meeting moderator presents a list of the names of people willing to serve on the Finance Committee. Selectmen then appoint people from the list.

Vashaw also served nine years on the Appeals Board in Rumford and has run for selectmen and tax collector, but was not elected to either office.

Vashaw has no criminal history.