Former Dodgingtown Restaurant Owner Admits Possessing Child Pornography

HARTFORD — Louis Graziani, 52, of Roxbury pleaded guilty on November 21 before US Magistrate Judge Donna F. Martinez to one count of possession of child pornography.

Graziani formerly owned George’s Pizza and Restaurant at 1 Dodgingtown Road in Dodgingtown. The eatery now at that location does business under a different name and with new ownership.

Graziani downloaded numerous images and videos of child pornography from the Internet, according to a statement from Kevin J. O’Connor, US Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

The criminal case stems from a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation that identified websites, e-mail addresses, and credit card processing companies used by people who operated illegal child pornography websites and granted others access to those websites for a fee.

In approximately December 2005, agents began intercepting communications occurring with an e-mail account of one such illegal website. Based on these court-authorized interceptions, Graziani was identified as a person who had subscribed to, and was granted access to, the child pornography website.

In October 2006, a search warrant was obtained and executed at George’s Pizza and Restaurant. A forensic examination of Graziani’s computer taken from the restaurant revealed more than 1,000 images and videos of child pornography, according to the statement from Mr O’Connor.

Graziani is scheduled to be sentenced by Chief US District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford on February 7, 2008, at which time Graziani faces a maximum prison term of ten years and a maximum fine of $250,000.

As a condition of his plea agreement, Graziani will be required to serve a ten-year period of supervised release upon his release from any period of incarceration, and he will be required to register as a sex offender.

As a condition of his supervised release, the US Probation Office will be authorized to monitor Graziani’s computer use and also conduct random searches of his residence, automobile, and his workplace. Also, Graziani must not have any unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18.

Mr O’Connor said that the prosecution is part of the US Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, a nationwide project designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.

Information about Project Safe Childhood is available on the Internet at www.projectsafechildhood.gov.