New Orleans man accused of distributing child porn banned for life by USRowing

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A New Orleans man accused of distributing child pornography online was banned for life Tuesday (Nov. 10) by USRowing, the governing organization announced.

Formally known as the United States Rowing Association, USRowing is the nonprofit governing body for the sport of rowing in the US, and is recognized by the US Olympic and Paralympic committees and the International Rowing Federation.

On Tuesday, the body announced that 58-year-old Thomas Saquet was sanctioned by “permanent revocation of all USRowing membership rights,” pursuant to the organization’s code of conduct and misconduct policy. The ban means Saquet “is prohibited from participating, in any capacity, in any event, program, activity, or competition within the jurisdiction of USRowing or any membership organization of USRowing.”

Online tax records show Saquet served last year as treasurer of the New Orleans Rowing Club. The club’s website no longer lists Saquet, or any treasurer, on its leadership page.

Saquet is facing 246 child pornography-related counts in two parishes after being arrested in August, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office said.

An investigation into online activity from his Freret Street home allegedly revealed Saquet as the subscriber of an account on the online messaging platform Kik, that was “used to send images and videos of child sexual abuse material to other users on the platform,” Murrill’s office said in a statement.

“Agents identified 10 images and videos containing child sexual abuse material, three of which involved children under the age of 13,” the AG’s office said after his Aug. 27 arrest.

Task force agents apprehended Saquet in Jefferson Parish, where the suspect’s phone was confiscated and eventually searched. Images on that portable device allegedly yielded evidence of hundreds of other illicit images and videos. Saquet was re-booked Sept. 24 on 233 additional counts of possession of child sexual abuse material involving victims under the age of 13 and three other counts of possessing child sexual abuse materials.

Court records show Saquet is free on a $105,000 bond after a Nov. 4 hearing in Orleans Parish, and is due back in court in Jefferson Parish on Nov. 23.

Terms of his bond include the removal of all computers from his home and a prohibition against possessing any electronic devices. Saquet also was ordered to surrender his passport pending trial.

An online biography says Saquet “started rowing at Tulane under the honest eye of Coach Bob Jaugstetter, at the tail end of the Reagan administration. ... He moved overseas just prior to Clinton’s re-election and managed to find friendly boathouses to row on the Thames, the Vltava, the Sava, the Elba, the Amstel, the Danube, and Lacul Herestrau. ... Tom found his way back to NOLA in recent years, with wife and daughter in tow, and has rejoined the (New Orleans Rowing) club.”

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