CLARKSTON, Mich. – The president of a group in Oakland County is facing felony charges after he left child porn pictures within a stack of meeting notes, police said.
Papers found after meeting
Deputies with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said they launched an investigation into James Lawrence Meloche, 81, of Clarkston, on Oct. 11, 2023.
Police said the day before, Meloche attended a meeting for the Village of Clarkston Historic District Commission. He was the president of the group at the time.
The following day, someone found a stack of papers that belonged to Meloche, police said. Within that stack were extra copies of the meeting agenda, personal emails, and “several pornographic images or materials,” according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
Children were included in those images, police said.
Search of Clarkston home
The papers were turned over to Oakland County detectives, who received a search warrant for Meloche’s home in Clarkston.
Police confiscated a cellphone, several computers, CDs, a camera, and multiple “sheets of homemade pornography,” they said.
It took months to go through the electronic and storage devices because there were thousands of images, police said.
They said they found more than 1,000 images of minor children “superimposed on a pornographic image.”
Sexually explicit captions or descriptions were often written on the finished image, according to authorities.
Some of the images also included graphic drawings, police said.
Detectives identified three of the children, who were all known to Meloche, they said. No others were identified.
Meloche arrested, charged
The case was turned over to Oakland County prosecutors, who issued charges on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.
Meloche was arrested Tuesday at a business in Independence Township, police said.
He was arraigned Wednesday at 52nd District Court on the following charges:
- Three counts of child sexually abusive activity.
- One count of using a computer to commit a crime.
- One count of possession of child sexually abusive activity.
“Anything involving child sexually abusive activity we take extremely seriously and fully investigate to hold the responsible person accountable to the full extent of the law,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.
Meloche is being held at the Oakland County Jail. Bond was set at $100,000.
