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Guilty plea in child porn case

William Ferchland

One of three South Lake Tahoe men arrested this month on possession of child pornography charges pleaded guilty in federal court Monday.

Joseph John George Scanio pleaded guilty to one count of possessing images depicting the sexual exploitation of minors. He faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a life-time registrant on the Megan’s Law Web site, a life term of supervised release and a fine up to $250,000.

Scanio used the Internet and a South Lake Tahoe business office computer to download child pornography, according to Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Rodriguez. Scanio possessed more than 500 images of minor females, Rodriguez said.



Scanio is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 8. He will also surrender his computers, hard drives and other devices that he used to possess child pornography.

The cases of the two other men arrested Oct. 12, David Kearby Clements and Robert Judson Gienapp, are ongoing in U.S. District Court in Sacramento.



Gienapp is scheduled to appear in court Thursday while Clements matter is before a federal grand jury. All men besides Clements, who was released from custody on conditions, remain in incarcerated.

The three men were arrested separately in a joint effort by the FBI, El Dorado County Probation Department and South Lake Tahoe Police Department. The investigation was part of Operation Safe Childhood, a national initiative of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Rodriguez, a federal prosecutor for more than 20 years, said child pornography cases are among the top of her concerns.

“I take them, each one, very seriously,” she said.


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