The 74-year-old father of Louis Hamlin III, who was convicted in 1982 of brutally raping a teenage girl and murdering another in Essex, was indicted this month for possession of child pornography.
Louis Hamlin II, of Huntington, was one of eight men charged in a recent sweep by local, state and federal officials.
His son, Hamlin III, became notorious decades ago when he was just 16. He and a 15-year-old youth, Jamie Savage, were arrested in 1981
for torturing two girls, ages 12 and 13, as they walked through the woods. The cases shocked Vermonters and led to changes in the state's juvenile crime laws.
Shortly after his son's arrest in 1981, Hamlin II was charged with a felony sex crime. Authorities said he photographed his sex acts with a girl. Hamlin II was sentenced to six to 15 years.
He was required to undergo an experimental treatment program at Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury that included viewing nude images and compulsory masturbation. Hamlin II sued in protest, claiming he'd found God in jail and that the sexual aspects of the treatment program violated his constitutional right to free exercise of religion.
The Vermont Supreme Court in 1987
rejected Hamlin's claim on technical grounds.
Earlier this month, police searched Hamlin II's Huntington home while acting on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They found two printed images of nude children during their search, according to a federal indictment. Hamlin II acknowledged viewing photos of nude children online but said he didn't do it for pleasure, the indictment states.
A federal judge ordered Hamlin II detained pending trial.
His son, Hamlin III, remains incarcerated out of state for his 1981 crimes. He was last reviewed for parole eligibility in August 2018, according to the Vermont Parole Board.
Hamlin II wasn't the only high-profile defendant charged in the recent sweep.
Another convicted child abuser, Mark Hulett, drew attention in 2006 for an unusually light two-month jail sentence
issued by state judge Ed Cashman. Hulett, 48, also faces federal charges for possessing child pornography.