Released on bond after arraignment

By Megan Kelley
Editor
mkelley@mihomepaper.com
OAKLAND COUNTY — On April 16, James Lawrence Meloche, an 81-year-old Clarkston man, was arraigned on criminal charges for various activities which included placing the images of minor children onto pornographic images of adults.

Meloche was charged in the 52nd District court on three counts of child sexually abusive activity, using a computer to commit a crime and possession of child sexually abusive activity.
He was held in the Oakland County Jail on a $100,000 bond.
According to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, Meloche was booked on April 15 and released on bond on April 16.
“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,” said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.
The arrest, which took place at a business in Independence Township, was the result of a lengthy investigation by detectives and the Sheriff’s Office Computer Crimes Unit, police said.
According to the OCSO, the investigation began on Oct. 11, 2023 when a stack of papers allegedly belonging to Meloche were discovered the day after a meeting of the City of the Village of Clarkston’s Historic District Commission. The papers included extra copies of the meeting agenda, personal emails with Meloche’s name on them and several pornographic images or materials. The images were sexual in nature and included images of children. Meloche was president of the commission at the time.
The papers were turned over to the sheriff’s office detectives who obtained a search warrant for Meloche’s home in Clarkston. Police say they confiscated his cellphone, several computers, CDs, a camera and multiple sheets of homemade pornography, among other items.
The investigation of the devices took many months as investigators searched through thousands of images and devices, uncovering more than a thousand images in which pictures of minor children were superimposed on a pornographic image. A sexually explicit caption or description of what was being displayed was often written on the finished image. Some images also included graphic drawings, investigators say.
According to authorities, three minor victims were identified, all who were known to Meloche.