A CyberTip about newly created child sexual abuse material set off a fast-moving investigation in Milford that ended with a 37-year-old local man in handcuffs at a Medway Road gas station. Manuel Dafonte was arrested on Wednesday, August 5, after Milford Police detectives and Massachusetts State Police troopers converged on two locations at nearly the same time — one team stopping his white Nissan Frontier, another searching his Taft Street home.
According to the Police Department of Milford, Massachusetts, the investigation began after a tip from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children indicated that images allegedly in Dafonte's possession depicted the recent sexual abuse of a child. That tip is part of a massive national reporting pipeline — the organization received more than 20.5 million CyberTipline reports in 2024 alone, according to data cited by the European People's Party, illustrating just how much digital evidence state and local cyber units are sorting through at any given time.
Behind the scenes, investigators moved with striking speed. Per MSPNews, State Police Cyber Crimes Unit investigators filed an emergency disclosure request with an online service provider after the CyberTip was escalated, allowing troopers to trace the associated IP address directly to Dafonte's residence. The same account notes that after follow-up interviews and evidence analysis, cyber crime troopers identified the child victim in the case and arranged for emotional and physical support resources — a detail not included in the department's own press release.
A Coordinated Stop and Search
At approximately 9:52 p.m. that Wednesday, Milford Police detectives located Dafonte driving his Nissan Frontier on Medway Road and conducted a motor vehicle stop at a Mobil gas station, per the department's release. At nearly the same moment, members of the Massachusetts State Police STOP Team, the State Police Cyber Crime Unit, and Milford's own Patrol Division executed a search warrant at Dafonte's home on Taft Street.
When troopers intercepted Dafonte near his residence, they served him with the search warrant and seized one cellphone from his person along with two more found inside the Nissan, the same MSPNews report states. The overlapping stop and search reflect the kind of tight interagency coordination that has become a hallmark of these cases in Milford.
Charges and a Chief's Blunt Warning
Dafonte was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography, second offense; indecent assault and battery on a child under 14; posing or exhibiting a child in a nude or lascivious pose; and photographing the sexual or intimate parts of a child, according to the department's statement.
Milford Police Chief Robert Tusino connected the arrest to Dafonte's past. “I'd like to thank the Massachusetts State Police for their collaboration on this arrest,” Tusino said in the release. “Crimes against children are among the most heinous offenses we encounter. To know that this individual was previously charged with possession of child pornography and is now accused of similar conduct involving the exploitation of a child is deeply disturbing.”
Statutory Exposure Runs Into Decades
The charges Dafonte faces carry some of the steepest penalties on the Massachusetts books. Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265, Section 13B, indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in state prison, with strict liability on consent and no legal defense allowed for mistake of age, according to Aprodu Law.
Because Dafonte is now facing a second-offense possession charge, the exposure escalates further. Chapter 272, Section 29C sets an enhanced mandatory minimum of not less than 5 years in state prison, plus fines between $5,000 and $20,000, for a second conviction, per Sweeney & Associates, LLC. The same firm notes that posing a child in a state of nudity or sexual conduct under Chapter 272, Section 29A carries potential penalties of 10 to 20 years in state prison and fines ranging from $10,000 to $50,000. A conviction on any of these charges would also trigger mandatory lifetime or long-term registration with the state's Sex Offender Registry Board, which imposes strict public reporting, housing, and employment restrictions, according to Aprodu Law.
Second Similar Raid in Milford This Year
This is not the first time Milford Police and the Massachusetts State Police Cyber Crimes Unit have paired up on a case like this. In a joint search three months earlier, the two agencies executed a warrant at a Franklin Street residence in Milford, resulting in the arrest of another local resident on child pornography charges. Criminal proceedings stemming from Milford Police investigations are typically handled through the Worcester County District Court system at the local Milford District Court branch.
The Milford Police Department, headquartered at 250 Main Street, is directing additional inquiries to Detective J. Covino. As with any pending case, Dafonte and all suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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