The AP is reporting that the feds have charged Pfizer’s global patent director, Alan Hesketh, with receiving, distributing and possessing child pornography.

Hesketh, 61, stands accused of posing as a 28-year-old woman and, while chatting online, trading hundreds of images of children engaged in sex acts, according to the report. Hesketh’s role at Pfizer is a part of the company’s legal division.

A call to Hesketh’s lawyer, Jonathan Einhorn, was not immediately returned.

Pfizer spokeswoman Liz Power told the AP on Thursday that Hesketh, a British citizen and U.S. resident whose office is in New London, Connecticut, is on a leave of absence from the company. He is being held without bond. “Pfizer will cooperate with authorities in any investigation,” she said. The Law Blog’s call to Pfizer was not immediately returned.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Hesketh at JFK on Wednesday. He was then presented in U.S. District Court in Hartford on Thursday. Judge Donna F. Martinez scheduled a bond hearing for Monday.

If Hesketh is indicted and convicted, he reportedly faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison, a maximum of 20 years for receiving and distributing child pornography and a maximum of 10 years for possession of child porn. He also faces as much as $500,000 in fines.