FORMER TEACHER PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL CHARGES OF POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY A man formerly employed as a school teacher in Los Angeles, California, pleaded guilty last week to one count of a single-count indictment charging him with possession of child pornography, announced J. Stephen Tidwell, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI in Los Angeles and Debra Wong Yang, United States Attorney in Los Angeles. David Stein, 46, of Hollywood, California, was arrested by the FBI's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (S.A.F.E.) Team last year on May 6th, 2005, for possession of child pornography, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252A (a) (5) (B), which makes it a crime for a person to knowingly possess material that contains an image of child pornography that has been mailed, shipped, or transported in interstate commerce by any means, including a computer. This investigation began in August 2003 when information regarding a United States citizen transmitting child pornography was provided to the FBI by overseas investigators with the Croatian Interior Ministry. Further investigation led to Stein and a subsequent search of his residence in November 2003 where SAFE Team members recovered a computer and numerous compact discs. Analysis of the computer and discs revealed files which contained illegal pornographic images and movies. Analysts determined many to be identical to images contained in the Child Victim Identification Program database, as well as illegal pornographic magazines previously seized by law enforcement. Until his arrest last year, Stein had been employed at an administrative office within the Los Angeles School District, where he was placed by school officials upon learning of the SAFE Team's investigation. Previously, Stein had been teaching at the Pacific Boulevard School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The statutory maximum sentence Stein faces is ten years imprisonment, a lifetime period of supervised release and fines. As a condition of supervised release, Stein would be subject to restrictions and requirements, including registration as a sex offender. This investigation was conducted by the FBI's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (S.A.F.E.) Team, a task force which focuses on crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. The team is comprised of full time members from the FBI, Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, United States Postal Inspection Service, California Department of Justice's Bureau of Investigation, the Los Angeles Unified School Police Department, the Orange County Sheriff's Department, as well as the United States Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. Additionally, the FBI works cooperatively with foreign governments that participate on the Innocent Images International Task Force, part of the FBI's national crimes against children team located in Calverton, Maryland. Additional information about the FBI's Crimes Against Children Program and the Child Victim Identification Program may be found by visiting www.fbi.gov.