FBI ARRESTS TEACHER IN PORN PROBE KIDS FEATURED IN EXPLICIT FILMS.Byline: David R. Baker and Robert Monroe Staff Writers PANORAMA CITY - Federal agents arrested a veteran teacher Thursday on the campus of Liggett Street School on suspicion of possessing child pornography Child pornography is the visual representation of minors under the age of 18 engaged in sexual activity or the visual representation of minors engaging in lewd or erotic behavior designed to arouse the viewer's sexual interest. downloaded from the Internet. Paul Kreutzer kreu·zer or kreut·zer n. Any of several small coins of low value formerly used in Austria and Germany. [German, from Middle High German kriuzer, from kriuze, of Canyon Country was taken into custody by FBI agents shortly after noon, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. school district officials. He appeared in federal court late Thursday, when bail was set at $30,000. The third- and fourth-grade teacher has taught at Liggett since 1996 and has worked with the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. since 1986, said district spokeswoman Hilda Ramirez. Liggett Principal David Sanchez declined to give details about Kreutzer's background Thursday, citing the investigation. Kreutzer's age was not available. ``As far as I know, these charges have nothing to do with our school or our students,'' Sanchez said, reading from a statement he gave his faculty at an emergency meeting following the arrest. ``Mr. Kreutzer denies any inappropriate wrongdoing wrong·do·er n. One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically. wrong  do in this
matter,'' said Kreutzer's attorney, Richard Schwab, who
declined to comment on specifics of the case.
A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for April 5. Ramirez said that under school district policy, employees charged with such crimes are placed on unpaid leave until the resolution of the case. Court papers allege that Kreutzer downloaded pornographic images of young girls from a Dutch Web site that has been under investigation since last fall. An FBI agent states in court documents that agents found Kreutzer by tracing the Internet addresses There are two kinds of addresses that are widely used on the Internet. One is a person's e-mail address, and the other is the address of a Web site, which is known as a URL. Following is an explanation of Internet e-mail addresses only. For more on URLs, see URL and Internet domain name. of people who had logged onto the site, created by a Dutch company renting computer space from an Internet service provider Internet service provider (ISP) Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password. in Boston. On Feb. 11, FBI agents searched Kreutzer's residence at a mobile home park on Soledad Canyon Soledad Canyon is a long narrow canyon / valley located in Los Angeles County, California between the cities of Palmdale and Santa Clarita. Soledad Canyon contains the localities of Vincent, Acton, Ravenna, and Agua Dulce. Road and confiscated con·fis·cate tr.v. con·fis·cat·ed, con·fis·cat·ing, con·fis·cates 1. To seize (private property) for the public treasury. 2. To seize by or as if by authority. See Synonyms at appropriate. adj. an Apple computer, 20 floppy disks and five high-capacity Zip storage disks. According to the court papers, Kreutzer told agents during the search that he did not recall using his computer to visit Web sites with child pornography. An examination of the Zip disks, however, found at least 30 images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, the papers state. Agents have confirmed that eight of the images depict real children, an important legal distinction because possessing computer-generated pornographic images of children is currently not illegal. ``This case demonstrates that the perceived anonymity of the Internet is just that - a perception,'' said U.S. Attorney's office spokesman Thom Mrozek. ``With relative ease, investigators were able to shut down this offensive Web site and take into custody at least one of the people who downloaded that pornography.'' Mrozek said that the search for others who downloaded the pornography continues. |
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