A member of the comics community has been arrested by Connecticut police for one of the more serious and disturbing non-violent crimes on the books.

According to a story in the Connecticut Post (via Newsarama), Josue Rivera - AKA artist Justiniano -has been brought in by police on charges of child pornography. Reportedly, the artist dropped a thumb drive off to a local funeral home in July that was supposed to contain pictures of a recently deceased friend for an upcoming service. Instead, the drive contained 33 files classified as child pornography -a number which grew to over 100 with three videos once Rivera's house and computer were searched and seized. One of the photos is believed to be of the suspect's niece.

As Justiniano, the artist had done many issues for DC Comics in recent memory including a run on Dr. Fate with late writer Steve Gerber in the pages of "Countdown To Mystery." Of late, his byline has been largely absent from the comics scene, though he was on the guest list for the upcoming Wizard Big Apple Comic Con on May 21 - 22.

So far, the Post's story does not note that Rivera works as a comics artist. If wider news outlets decide to play up that angle, the story could make for some less than desirable publicity for the comics community in general, however for now, all readers can do is wait and see which charges are filed and how the case works itself out.