Triangle Boy Scouts leader indicted on child porn charge

A former Boy Scouts leader from Chapel Hill has been indicted on a charge of receiving child pornography, authorities said Tuesday.

Brian Joseph Burnham, 36, was arrested last week at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on a federal warrant. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received an online tip in November that led to the investigation.

According to court documents, Burnham “knowingly received” child pornography from January 2009 through November 2014. He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Durham.

John Akerman, executive with the Occonneechee Council of the Boy Scouts of America in Raleigh, said Tuesday that Burnham has been dismissed from the scouting program.

“The behavior included in these allegations runs counter to everything for which the Boy Scouts of America stands,” Akerman said in a statement.

He said the scouts are cooperating with the investigation.

“The safety of our youth members is of paramount importance and we seek to prevent child abuse through a comprehensive program of education on the subject, a chartered organization leader selection process, criminal background and other checks, policies and procedures to serve as barriers to abuse and the prompt mandatory reporting of any allegation or suspicion of abuse,” Akerman said.

Authorities also said Burnham was a baseball coach, but they did not specify where and when he coached.

Locke T. Clifford, Burnham's attorney, released the following statement: "Mr. Burnham is devastated by the charges but is even more concerned about any adverse consequences to the Boy Scouts."