Princeton LGBT activist arrested, charged with possessing child pornography

Roy "Trey" Farmer, a 53-year-old LGBT activist with close ties to Princeton University, has been arrested and charged with one felony count of possessing child sexual abuse material, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office.

Farmer, a 1993 Princeton graduate, was arrested Friday at his condo located just across from the Ivy League school's main entrance. He was heavily involved with the university at the time of his arrest, organizing events and leading organizations for alumni, the Daily Wire reported.

Farmer served as president of both the Queer Princeton Alumni organization and the Princeton University Glee Club Foundation. He also held the position of vice president of Princeton's Bisexual, Transgender, Gay and Lesbian Alumni organization.

In a 2022 profile published on Princeton's alumni website, Farmer was featured in a glowing "alumni spotlight" that called him a "piano prodigy" and highlighted his recruitment by other prestigious universities. The profile also noted that he had earned master's degrees from both Yale and Harvard.

Beyond his involvement with Princeton, Farmer sits on the board of the New York Philharmonic and claims to have founded the orchestra's Pride Alliance. He also owned and operated companies in the U.S. and abroad, and organized art festivals, including the StayInMay Festival in Naples, Florida, which sponsors programs for children.

The prosecutor's office said they received a tip in January from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, indicating that someone in Mercer County had uploaded an item portraying child sexual abuse material. Investigators linked the material to Farmer.

Several law enforcement agencies, including the county prosecutor's office, the Mercer County Tactical Response Team, and Homeland Security Investigations Trenton, coordinated to execute a search warrant at Farmer's residence on Friday, seizing "multiple items of evidentiary value."

Farmer was being held at the Mercer County Jail pending a detention hearing scheduled for Wednesday at the Superior Court of Mercer County in Trenton. The prosecutor's office stated their intention to argue for his detention before trial.