Child Pornography

A former Crescenta Valley High School counselor and boys' water polo assistant coach faces child-pornography charges. Michael James Huber, 50, is being electronically monitored at his Crescenta Valley house after posting 10 percent of $140,000 bail. He is being changed with seven felony counts of using a minor for sex acts, two misdemeanor counts of possession or control of child pornography, and two misdemeanor counts of child molesting. "He essentially paid some minors to take pictures," Detective Richard Lutz alleged.

LOS ANGELES — A 57-year-old attorney accused of possessing child pornography on his home computer and an Uzi assault rifle waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday before he was held to answer on the charges, officials said. Prosecutors were supposed to present evidence in a preliminary hearing against Walter Loustari, a Glendale resident, on charges of possessing child pornography, but he decided not to go forward with the hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court and go straight to trial.

LOS ANGELES — A 58-year-old Glendale man pleaded no contest Friday to having child pornography on his home computer and possessing an assault rifle, officials said. Walter Loustari, an attorney with an office in La Cañada Flintridge, was arrested in October 2008 after Glendale police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials discovered he had accessed child pornography on the Internet, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. His arrest stemmed from a 2006 ICE Operation Predator probe that focused on Internet websites that depicted child pornography.

GLENDALE — The trial for a 21-year-old Glendale man arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography last month was set for Dec. 19, officials from the United States Attorney's Office announced Thursday. Robert Valantine, 21, and 18 other Southern California men were arrested in the past several weeks and are among 125 defendants arrested nationwide as part of Operation Emissary, which investigated individuals who subscribed to a website that offered images and movies of hard-core child pornography, said Thom Mrozek, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.

The Crescenta Valley High School ceramics teacher accused of surreptitiously videotaping female students in a restroom and posting the images on the Internet will proceed to trial. Faced with 35 child pornography-related charges, Rogelio "Roger" Gallardo, 34, last week waived his right to a preliminary hearing and will be arraigned Jan. 28 in Pasadena Superior Court. Gallardo's public defender, Winston McKesson, declined comment on his client's guilt or innocence. "We're doing everything we can to bring this case to a fair and equitable resolution," McKesson said, adding he did not want to discuss how he would defend his client in court.

Karen S. Kim GLENDALE -- Gov. Gray Davis has signed into law a bill that allows teachers convicted of federal sex offenses to be immediately removed from the classroom. The law, authored by state Sen. Jack Scott (D-Glendale) goes into effect Jan. 1, 2002. Under current law, teachers charged and convicted of federal sex offenses, including child pornography, are permitted to continue teaching while the case is reviewed by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

Let the park come to you GLENDALE -- Neighborhoods where parks are not readily accessible can let Park-N'-Play bring the park to them. The city-run Park-N'-Play vehicle travels to neighborhoods without parks, and staff provide a variety of supervised recreation activities, including hockey, soccer, foursquare, games and arts and crafts. Sports-oriented contests are also provided. Service is available for two hours beginning at 2:45 p.m. weekdays and for three hours beginning at 1 p.m. every other Saturday.

For more than 20 years Michael Huber had been an example of high Christian morals and devotion to community and children. He was sentenced last week in a Pasadena courtroom to four years and eight months in prison for child pornography. Before being arrested, the La Crescenta resident spoke to church groups and PTA audiences, impressing them with his compassion and his understanding of today's youth. He spoke and everyone listened. That was not the case Monday, when he sat and listened to former friends ask him why he had taken their trust and victimized their children.

The Crescenta Valley Sheriff's Station is still looking for victims of a child pornography scam allegedly perpetrated by long-time Crescenta Valley resident Michael James Huber. Huber, 50, is being electronically monitored at his Crescenta Valley home after posting 10 percent of $140,000 bail. He is being charged with seven felony counts of using a minor for sex acts, two misdemeanor counts of possession or control of child pornography, and two misdemeanor counts of child molesting.

A 58-year-old Glendale man was sentenced Friday to six months in jail and up to three years of probation for having child pornography on his home computer and for possessing an assault rifle, officials said. Walter Loustari, an attorney based in La Cañada Flintridge, must surrender to authorities July 15 to begin his jail term and must also register as a sex offender, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney?s office. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan also restricted Loustari?

LOS ANGELES — A 58-year-old Glendale man pleaded no contest Friday to having child pornography on his home computer and possessing an assault rifle, officials said. Walter Loustari, an attorney with an office in La Cañada Flintridge, was arrested in October 2008 after Glendale police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials discovered he had accessed child pornography on the Internet, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. His arrest stemmed from a 2006 ICE Operation Predator probe that focused on Internet websites that depicted child pornography.

LOS ANGELES — A 57-year-old attorney accused of possessing child pornography on his home computer and an Uzi assault rifle waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday before he was held to answer on the charges, officials said. Prosecutors were supposed to present evidence in a preliminary hearing against Walter Loustari, a Glendale resident, on charges of possessing child pornography, but he decided not to go forward with the hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court and go straight to trial.

GLENDALE — An eight-month-long federal investigation led to the arrests of 50 men, two of whom live in Glendale, on charges of possession of child pornography, officials said. Christopher Kenji Hamilton, 33, and Eric Johnson, 34, were each indicted on one count of possession of child pornography after federal authorities discovered that they and the other men were using peer-to-peer networks to share graphic videos and images of children, officials said. “We are dealing with a complicated effort over a number of months,” Assistant U.S. Atty.

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — An FBI task force arrested a 56-year-old Glendale man Tuesday night on suspicion of possession of child pornography. Ivan Carcelen, who is a special education teacher at Griffith Middle School in East Los Angeles, was taken into custody at his residence at about 6 p.m., as a part of a Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement, or SAFE, task force investigation, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. “This investigation was initiated when our local task force here received information from a similar crimes-against-children task force that the FBI operates in San Francisco, where they conducted an investigation and identified [Carcelen]

After working on a case that landed two local pimps behind bars, Glendale Police Det. Matt Irvine was named investigator of the year by a state law-enforcement group, an honor that he takes humbly and attributes largely to the aid of his cohorts. Members of the California Sexual Assaults Investigators Assn. joined Glendale Police officials and the City Council Tuesday to present the association's Patrick Sullivan Investigator of the Year award to Irvine. "I'm very proud of all of Matt Irvine's work," said Police Chief Randy Adams.

GLENDALE — The trial for a 21-year-old Glendale man arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography last month was set for Dec. 19, officials from the United States Attorney's Office announced Thursday. Robert Valantine, 21, and 18 other Southern California men were arrested in the past several weeks and are among 125 defendants arrested nationwide as part of Operation Emissary, which investigated individuals who subscribed to a website that offered images and movies of hard-core child pornography, said Thom Mrozek, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.

For more than 20 years Michael Huber had been an example of high Christian morals and devotion to community and children. He was sentenced last week in a Pasadena courtroom to four years and eight months in prison for child pornography. Before being arrested, the La Crescenta resident spoke to church groups and PTA audiences, impressing them with his compassion and his understanding of today's youth. He spoke and everyone listened. That was not the case Monday, when he sat and listened to former friends ask him why he had taken their trust and victimized their children.

The Crescenta Valley Sheriff's Station is still looking for victims of a child pornography scam allegedly perpetrated by long-time Crescenta Valley resident Michael James Huber. Huber, 50, is being electronically monitored at his Crescenta Valley home after posting 10 percent of $140,000 bail. He is being charged with seven felony counts of using a minor for sex acts, two misdemeanor counts of possession or control of child pornography, and two misdemeanor counts of child molesting.