For Conor Makem, 'the day the music died'

Conor Makem (Courtesy photo)

DOVER, N.H. - For Conor Makem exactly one year ago today will always be the real "day the music died."

That was the day he was arrested on several counts of Invasion of Privacy for taking pictures of women in various stages of undress as they used a second-floor bathroom in Rochester's Merchants Plaza. He was also charged with felony destruction of physical evidence for making unusable the digital equipment used to snap the pictures.

Makem at the time was a part-time reporter for Foster's Daily Democrat and the Rochester Times and worked out of the newspapers' Rochester bureau inside Merchants Plaza a few feet from the women's bathroom where the images were taken. He was fired soon after his initial arrest.

Today, a year later, the world of Conor Makem continues to crumble. The Irish folk music band with which he formerly toured internationally no longer calls him one of their own. The Makem and Spain brothers website makes no mention of his arrest and conviction, only "Conor had taken a temporary leave of absence from touring to deal with a personal issue. That leave has now become permanent."

All the images for which Makem was charged showed either "genitalia or buttocks" and were recorded on an IPhone and Apple Macbook between July 1, 2012 and Oct. 7, 2013.

Makem, 46, formerly of Dover, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in May to 12 months in the Strafford County House of Correction in connection with the crime.

At his sentencing, emotional victims' statements suggested at least one of the victims had been a co-worker at the bureau.

"I would talk to him about work, how my weekend was," one victim's statement said." I can't believe the man was looking me in the eye and doing this. I no longer have respect for him. It is very humiliating."

"My sincere apologies, I am truly sorry," Makem said at his sentencing. "I am ashamed and have empathy. I am not an emotional person but I have cried and cried. I hurt a lot of people and demolished my own life."

Makem also must register as a sex offender for 10 years.

Child porn images were also found on Makem's Rochester Times' computer, but Rochester Police said the computer had been owned by the newspaper so long and so many people had had access to it besides Makem, an investigation to identify who may have downloaded the images was dropped. No child porn charges were ever leveled against Makem or anyone else.

Recently Makem, 46, applied to jail officials for a work release program. He was denied, said Strafford Jail Supt. Bruce Pelkie, who did not identify what type of work Makem had requested to perform or why he had been denied.

The Lebanon Voice over the summer requested a jailhouse interview with Makem, who said he would respectfully have to decline.

The initial police investigation began on Oct. 7 of last year when the woman who first discovered the camera wondered what a blinking red light was doing in the upstairs Merchants Plaza bathroom and asked Makem to take a look. She said they agreed it should be turned over to police and he said he'd take care of it. Later in the day, according to a police affidavit, the woman said she got a phone message from Makem saying he had given it to police and they had said they would be in touch with them if they needed anything.

A few hours later she called police only to find out they had never been contacted by Makem, nor had the camera been turned in.

Police on Oct. 10 executed a search warrant at the Foster's Rochester Bureau at Merchants Plaza and seized computers and other electronic devices used by Makem, including some owned by Foster's. They made the initial arrest on falsifying physical evidence and several invasion of privacy counts on Oct. 17, then followed that up a week later with more Invasion of Privacy charges alleging more victims.

Rochester Police also had the FBI investigate an IMac computer owned by the Rochester Times that Makem had access to on which police say they found several dozen images of child pornography. Makem, however, was not charged regarding the child porn as Rochester Police said too many people had had access to the computer over too many years to build a viable case.

The indictment was handed down by a Strafford County grand jury last January.
An accomplished musician in a band that plays traditional Irish music, Makem had to miss a whirlwind Music Tour of Ireland hosted by his Makem and Spain Brothers band late last year after surrendering both his American and Irish passports as part of his bail conditions.
Makem, who was born in County Louth, Ireland, is the son of the late, widely celebrated "Godfather of Irish music," Tommy Makem.
Foster's and the Rochester Times, meanwhile, have moved their offices from Merchants Plaza downtown to the second floor of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce building.