Men Arrested in Countywide Child Porn Sweep Plead Not Guilty

Three of nine men who were in a sweep of suspected child pornography users and distributors in San Mateo County have pleaded not guilty to keeping child porn, the district attorney said Monday.

Gordon Lee, 44, of Daly City, Christopher Winans, 24, of East Palo Alto, and Paul Ambler, 58, of San Mateo have each been charged with downloading and keeping images and videos of prepubescent boys and girls engaged in sexual acts on their personal computers, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

Ambler has further been charged with distributing child porn, Wagstaffe said.

Investigators who seized Ambler's computer allegedly found images and videos of children between the ages of 6 and 15 engaged in various acts, according to the district attorney's office.

Emails related to trading and forwarding child porn were also found on Ambler's computer, prosecutors said.

Warrants were served on Thursday at 11 homes throughout San Mateo County by over 100 investigators with 20 different local and federal law enforcement agencies coordinated by the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

The targets were homes suspected of downloading or distributing child pornography over peer-to-peer file sharing networks.

Investigators tracked Internet Protocol addresses to determine their location. Computers with pornographic images were seized as evidence during the sweeps.

Samnang Chun, 23, of San Mateo was arrested for suspected possession and distribution of child pornography.

Charles Reyes, 46, of San Jose, Stephen Wolf, 64, of Portola Valley, Paul Tazbaz, 36, of San Mateo, Steve Wilson, 52, of South San Francisco and Cruz-Martin Caseiro-Rosas, 32, of South San Francisco were arrested on suspicion of possession of child pornography.

All of the suspects were booked into San Mateo County Jail and are expected to enter pleas over the next two weeks, Wagstaffe said.

--Bay City News