Child Pornography

Seven Southern California men were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of possessing child pornography, following an eight-month investigation by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The investigation led to charges being filed against 52 people who allegedly possessed or produced child pornography using peer-to-peer computer networks to exchange the graphic images and videos. Some of those charged included attorneys, a law enforcement officer and men with previous child porn-related convictions.

A 48-year-old former middle school music teacher was sentenced Monday to 70 months in federal prison for possession of child pornography. Eric Don Standefer, a former teacher at Jean Farb Middle School in San Diego, pleaded guilty in November to having bought child pornography over the Internet. Standefer was also sentenced by District Judge Marilyn Huff to register as a sex offender and to serve five years of supervised probation after his prison sentence. -- Tony Perry

Comcast Corp. said it expected to sign a code of conduct aimed at blocking child pornography on the Internet after receiving a warning letter from New York Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo told Comcast in a letter that he planned to take legal action within five days and said he was concerned that the company wasn't taking "every necessary action to eliminate child porn from the Internet." Comcast said in a statement that it joined with other cable operators and 48 state attorneys general to sign a separate agreement on child-pornography prevention last week and that it anticipated it would sign Cuomo's code of conduct as well.

A Los Angeles school principal who has been charged with possessing child pornography had posed as a 12-year-old girl in an online chat room and engaged in sexually explicit talk, authorities said Thursday. Randolph Barnett Cornfield, 60, principal of Del Rey Continuation School in Westchester, was arrested in June when investigators allegedly found images of child pornography on his home computer. Los Angeles police investigated Cornfield, a 28-year veteran of the Los Angeles Unified School District, after a man reported meeting a 12-year-old girl in an online chat room who made "very crude, sexually graphic statements," said Deputy Dist.

On the heels of last week's announcement that Verizon Communications, Time Warner Cable and Sprint would block access to child pornography traveling through their online networks, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown want the state's other Internet service providers to do the same. They sent a letter Friday to the California Internet Service Providers Assn., which has 100 member companies, asking for its help in "cracking down on those who exploit children."

A Cook County jury Friday acquitted R&B superstar R. Kelly of child pornography charges, ending a high-profile case that began more than six years ago. Jurors said they put little stock in the prosecution's star witness, a woman who claimed she participated in videotaped sex acts with Kelly and a person the government alleged was Kelly's then-underage goddaughter.

Verizon, Sprint and Time Warner Cable have agreed to block access to child pornography and eliminate the material from their Internet servers, New York's attorney general said Tuesday. The companies also will pay $1.1 million to help fund efforts to remove the online child porn created and disseminated by users through their services, Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo said. The changes will affect customers nationwide.

A band teacher at Foshay Learning Center in Los Angeles was charged Thursday with possessing child pornography on his personal laptop computer, authorities said. Lief Arnesen Albaugh was arrested Wednesday evening by detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department's juvenile division. The 27-year-old Los Angeles man posted $20,000 bail and was released at 5:30 a.m. Thursday, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department inmate website.

A San Gabriel Valley man was indicted Tuesday for allegedly using social networking sites such as MySpace.com and MyYearbook.com to convince teenage girls to have sex with him and pose for pornographic pictures, according to the U.S. attorney's office. A federal grand jury indicted Gregory Scott Serrano, 33, of Monrovia on charges of production of child pornography, using the Internet to entice minors to produce child pornography and to meet for sex, receipt of child pornography, possession of child pornography and attempted destruction of evidence.

The paparazzi and TV news crews have spent weeks scouting the Cook County Criminal Court for the perfect spot to shoot arrivals, departures and stand-ups. The judge presiding over the case sought advice from a fellow jurist in Santa Barbara County on how to handle a case involving an international celebrity and the media blitz that is sure to follow. Inside the freshly painted courthouse, reporters from MTV News, Jet and Blender magazines jockeyed with local journalists for seats. In the city where prosecutors took down Al Capone, and high-profile courtroom dramas normally feature corrupt politicians and mobsters, the child pornography case against R&B superstar R. Kelly that began this week has brought Chicago a relatively unusual legal experience: the salacious celebrity trial.