Crime

Former Mass. sheriff’s deputy indicted on child porn charge

Prosecutors allege Patrick Doran posed as a 15-year-old boy to solicit explicit material from a teen girl in Wisconsin.

July 1, 2025

1 minute to read

A Cape Cod man was indicted on a child pornography charge Friday after authorities allege he posed as a 15-year-old boy to solicit explicit material from a teen girl in Wisconsin.

Patrick Doran, 29, of Hyannis, was working as a deputy sheriff in Dukes County when he was initially arrested on similar charges out of Wisconsin in February, according to the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office. The Dukes County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for clarification regarding Doran’s employment, but The Cape Cod Times reported Doran parted ways with the office March 1.

He pleaded not guilty Monday to possessing child pornography and was released on $5,000 cash bail. Doran’s attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday.

The Barnstable Police Department first began investigating Doran in January after officers from the Pleasant Prairie Police Department in Wisconsin reached out about a suspect on the Cape who was allegedly soliciting and distributing explicit materials to a 14-year-old in Kenosha County, according to prosecutors. A joint investigation purportedly identified Doran as the man in question.

Barnstable police and members of the U.S. Secret Service New England Cyber Fraud Task Force executed a search warrant at Doran’s home in Hyannis in February, seizing his electronics and taking him into custody on an arrest warrant out of Wisconsin.

Prosecutors allege Doran’s cellphone contained approximately 1,188 files depicting child sexual abuse materials, as well as many of the photographs and materials sent to the Wisconsin teen.

Court records in that state indicate Doran is facing charges of soliciting intimate representation from a minor; exposing a child to harmful material; and exposing genitals, pubic area, or intimate parts to a child. He posted $75,000 cash bond in the Wisconsin case, and his next court date there is Aug. 7.

Doran is due back in Barnstable Superior Court July 17 for a pretrial hearing. His Massachusetts bail conditions require him to stay away from and avoid contact with children under the age of 18, among other terms.