BELLINGHAM – On Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, the Bellingham Police Department was conducting an investigation with the Westborough Police Department into Michael Fuhrman, who resides at 305 Blackstone Street in Bellingham.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Detective Michael LaCure and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
According to police, Michael E. Fuhrman, 31, is a resident of 305 Blackstone Street, Bellingham, MA.
“This investigation was centered around possible possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) following a Westborough police investigation/search warrant into some devices previously owned by Michael,” Detective LaCure said. Detective LaCure added that Bellingham Police Detective Caitlin Bolles was in the process of applying for a search warrant for Fuhrman’s residence at 305 Blackstone Street and any electronic devices he owned and possessed there.
Detective LaCure said that as a result of the investigation, he was conducting surveillance in an unmarked cruiser with no police graphics near 305 Blackstone Street when he observed a black Buick with Massachusetts plates backing out of the driveway.
“The vehicle continued up Blackstone Street towards South Main Street,” Detective LaCure said. “The vehicle’s registration came back to…Michael’s father, however, I was able to see when the vehicle originally passed by me, the person driving the vehicle was a younger male. As I was behind the vehicle on South Main Street, I was made aware that Michael had a suspended Massachusetts Driver’s License.”
Fuhrman’s driver’s license had been suspended on July 31, 2026, for failure to pay fines and costs, Detective LaCure said.
“Upon learning this information, I observed the vehicle go through the intersection of South Main Street and Mechanic Street while the traffic signal was red,” Detective LaCure said. “It should be noted this area is a public way in the Town of Bellingham and this is a very congested area with rush hour traffic.”
Detective LaCure said he then activated his unmarked cruiser’s emergency lights and siren to pull the vehicle over. The vehicle pulled into the Rockland Trust parking lot and parked in a space.
Lieutenant Stephen Daigle responded to assist Detective LaCure in a fully marked cruiser.
Detective LaCure said that while wearing a polo shirt with a Bellingham police badge on it along with a badge on his belt, he made contact with the driver and identified himself as a Bellingham police officer.
“The operator seemed startled when I approached his door and I was able to see it was in fact Michael Fuhrman,” Detective LaCure said. “I advised him that I stopped him for going through the red traffic light and he apologized.”
Detective LaCure said he saw Fuhrman’s cellphone in the center console’s cup holder area.
“I knew a search warrant was being requested to search said cell phone,” Detective LaCure said.
After asking Fuhrman for his driver’s license and registration, Detective LaCure said he asked him to step out of the vehicle because he did not want him accessing his cell phone, which Bellingham police had probable cause to believe possessed CSAM.
“Michael provided me with his driver’s license and told me it was expired,” Detective LaCure said. “A check via dispatch confirmed Michael’s driver’s license was in fact suspended.”
Fuhrman was then taken into custody, handcuffed, and placed in the rear of Lieutenant Daigle’s cruiser.
Detective LaCure said Fuhrman’s driver’s side door was still open and in the door’s compartment he noticed two burnt glass pipes containing bits of copper “Chore Boy” brand scrubber inside of them.
“These glass pipes are commonly used by people to smoke illegal drugs, generally crack cocaine or crystal methamphetamine, and the copper fillings are used as a filter within the pipes,” Detective LaCure said. “Also in the door was a coat hanger folded up with one piece shaped to a point, which I recognized through my training and experience to be a tool used to clear out the pipes of its contents after smoking. Based on these observations, I had probable cause to search Michael’s vehicle for evidence of possession of controlled narcotics, in addition to seizing Michael’s cellular phone for the search warrant.”
While searching the vehicle, Detective LaCure said he located a plastic baggie containing a white powdery substance he believed to be cocaine in the center console of the vehicle as well as several glass smoking pipes.
“The baggie containing the white powder was seized as evidence as was the cell phone,” Detective LaCure said, adding that Fuhrman was transported to the Bellingham Police Department for booking.
“His vehicle was parked in a parking space so it was allowed to remain pending pick up by one of Michael’s parents,” Detective LaCure said. Adding, “Upon arrival at BPD [Bellingham Police Department], Detective Bolles had arrived with the signed search warrant for Michael’s devices and his residence of 305 Blackstone Street.”
Detective LaCure said Fuhrman was booked by Officer Thomas Ahearn and Lieutanant Daigle without issue.
“Officer Ahearn mirandized Michael in the booking room and Michael agreed to speak with officers,” Detective LaCure said. “While I inventoried Michael’s wallet and its contents for the booking process, I located a plastic baggie that contained a hard white circular object.”
Detective LaCure said he asked Fuhrman what the substance was, and Fuhrman told him it was cocaine.
“When I asked him about the clean shape/hardness of it (which would be consistent with crack cocaine in its hardness), Michael explained that it was a crack cocaine type drug,” Detective LaCure said. “Its shape was cleaner than is normally seen on the streets when encountering crack cocaine, which would be more irregularly shaped, sharp and chunky. Michael said he did not want to speak about whether or not he is turning powder cocaine into hard crack cocaine. It should be noted that based on the pipes in Michael’s car and his admissions about smoking cocaine (as opposed to crack), Michael may be buying powder cocaine and cooking it down to ‘free base’ crack cocaine on his own to control the purity of it; however, Michael did not comment on this.”
Fuhrman was allowed to use the phone and called his mother to let her know that he had been arrested.
Detective LaCure said Fuhrman was ultimately interviewed by Detective Caitlin Bolles of the Bellingham Police Department and Officer Samuel Hansom of the Westborough Police Department.
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Ron Puerta, a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force who specializes in crimes involving children, primarily the possession, distribution and production of CSAM, also arrived during booking.
“The search warrant Detective Bolles obtained from Milford District Court granted police access to seize and search Michael’s devices, including his cell phone,” Detective LaCure said. “The cell phone was locked and I attempted a code provided by Westborough PD (from his previous devices) in an attempt to unlock the phone and place it in airplane mode. This code was successful in unlocking the phone and I placed it into airplane mode and did not view any of its contents or areas.”
Detective LaCure said he placed the cellphone in airplane mode to preserve its evidentiary value before giving it to Trooper Puerta for analysis under the search warrant.
“Trooper Puerta located many items of concern on the phone but in particular found evidence of a young female, he estimated through his training and experience to be 8 to 11 years old, completely naked and posed in a sexual manner,” Detective LaCure said. “The juvenile female had a youthful appearance, short stature, underdeveloped breasts and lacked pubic hair. Trooper Puerta confirmed through his specific training and experience relative to CSAM that this particular photo was in fact, CSAM as the young female observed reasonably appears to be under eighteen years of age and the conduct appears consistent with conduct prohibited by the applicable statutes, mainly MA GL 272 Section 29C.”
The search warrant for Fuhrman’s residence at 305 Blackstone Street was also executed by Sergeant Thomas Marston, Detective Bolles, Trooper Puerta and two Westborough police officers.
Detective LaCure said a laptop seized from Fuhrman’s residence contained many images of juveniles in various sexual poses.
“The image described above that was found on Michael’s phone was also located on the laptop, resulting in the additional charge at this time,” Detective LaCure said.
Michael E. Fuhrman, 31, of Bellingham, was charged with the following:
- Possess Child Pornography (two counts)
- Possess Class B Drug (two counts)
- Operating Motor Vehicle with License Suspended
Fuhrman was arraigned in Milford District Court on Oct. 9, 2026. Following his arraignment, Fuhrman was released on $500 cash bail and placed on home confinement with electronic monitoring under the condition that he refrain from illegal drugs, submit to random drug screens, and have no contact with children under the age of 16.
Fuhrman’s next court date is a pretrial hearing scheduled for Nov. 20, 2026.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story took place earlier this month, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.
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