Brendan DuBois, a former Jeopardy champion and bestselling author, was arrested for allegedly possessing child pornography. Per NBC, DuBois was arrested on Wednesday in Exeter, New Hampshire. He was charged with six felony Class A complaints of possession of child pornography. DuBois turned himself in to the police after an investigation with the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce. They were looking into "child sexual abuse materials in the town."
According to police, DuBois had "at least 35 visual representations of children under the age of 18 engaging in various sexual acts." He's currently situated within the Rockingham County Jail.
Severn River Publishing, a book publishing company representing several of DuBois' novels, responded to the news in a statement. "We are deeply disturbed by the serious allegations against Brendan DuBois. While we respect the legal process, we have decided to immediately suspend all promotion and sales of Mr. DuBois' books. We believe these steps are necessary to uphold our values and maintain the trust of our readers, authors, and the publishing community."
Additionally, Severn River Publishing removed DuBois' biography page and many references to his books from its website.
New York Times Bestselling Author, Brendan DuBois, Was Arrested For Child Pornography
DuBois co-authored a few books with James Patterson. He also won $23,000 on Jeopardy in 2012. On social media, fans of the author reacted to the shocking news.
"The Brendan DuBois news sickens me. My heart breaks for the victims. There is [definitive] evidence already collected, so it's also disheartening to see some in the community downplay it as 'innocent until proven guilty.' If you feel that way, read the latest. Warning, it's graphic," one X (formerly known as Twitter) user stated.
Furthermore, C.W. Blackwell, a fellow author, emphasized he wanted to be removed from an anthology book that also featured DuBois. "Just saw the news of Brendan DuBois's arrest. I immediately notified the Bouchercon committee to pull my story from the anthology unless he is booted from the project and publicly admonished."
As it stands, that's where the situation sits until DuBois goes through the necessary legal processes. When we at Wide Open Country learn more, we'll be sure to keep our readership informed.
