Federal agents arrested most of the suspects in early-morning raids on homes across the metropolitan area, seizing their computers.

Brian Mathews, an ex-cop and former Patrolmen's Benevolent Association delegate, was charged with possessing 10 files, according to an indictment unsealed yesterday 3/21/02.

Mathews, 40, of Floral Park, Queens, was kicked off the police force in 1998 after a department trial judge found him guilty of ordering child porn through the mail.

Mathews if convicted, face sentences of up to 15 years and a $250,000 fine on each count.

The investigation, dubbed Operation Candyman, has also implicated two priests, a school bus driver and a teacher's aide, law enforcement officials said this week.