Diplomat pleads guilty to possessing child pornography

A former U.S. diplomat pleaded guilty Thursday to possession of child pornography in a case that also included allegations that he pressured visa applicants in Brazil for sex.

Gons Gutierrez Nachman, 42, admitted during a plea hearing in U.S. District Court that he had sex with 14- to 17-year-old girls while serving as a consular officer in Brazil and Congo, and that he documented the encounters in pictures and videos.

According to court documents, Nachman extensively documented his sexual activities from at least 2004 through 2006. One videotape was labeled "2004 Congo Sexual Adventures."

The plea deal includes no admission, however, to allegations that Nachman pressured attractive Brazilian visa applicants for sex.

In a court affidavit, a State Department investigator said she interviewed several visa applicants in Brazil who had sex with Nachman after being aggressively pursued by him. One of the women told agents that Nachman "took advantage of her."

Nachman's attorney, Lorilee Gates, said Nachman likely faces nine to 11 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. She declined to comment after the hearing.

The plea bargain prohibits the government from bringing more serious charges against Nachman, including production of child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years.

Nachman, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Costa Rica, earned his law degree at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was president of the Naturist Student Association and led demonstrations involving public nudity in 1995, according to the campus newspaper.

Thursday's hearing ended on an unusual note. Nachman's attorney told the judge that Nachman was trying to marry his fiancee but was having difficulty doing so because the jail where he is being held prohibits such ceremonies.

"Are you asking me to perform the wedding?" Judge Gerald Bruce Lee asked.

Gates said that would be wonderful, and the judge appeared to be considering the idea until prosecutor Ron Walutes pointed out that the fiancee is a 21-year-old Brazilian national — a profile not entirely dissimilar from some of Nachman's victims in the case.

Lee then said he thought the logistical difficulties of obtaining a marriage license while incarcerated made such a ceremony unlikely.