United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

Project Safe Childhood: ROXBURY MAN WHO POSSESSED CHILD PORNOGRAPHY SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON

Nora R. Dannehy, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that LOUIS GRAZIANI, 52, of Roxbury, was sentenced today by Chief United States District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to 24 months of imprisonment, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for downloading numerous images and videos of child pornography from the Internet.  On November 21, 2007, GRAZIANI pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.

This case stems from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation that identified websites, email addresses and credit card processing companies utilized by people who operated illegal child pornography web sites and granted others access to those web sites for a fee.  According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, in approximately December 2005, agents began intercepting communications occurring with an email account of one such illegal web site.  Based on these court-authorized interceptions, GRAZIANI was identified as a person who had subscribed to, and was granted access to, the child pornography web site.

In October 2006, a search warrant was obtained and executed at a restaurant GRAZIANI formerly operated in Newtown.  A forensic examination of GRAZIANI’s computer taken from the restaurant revealed more than 1000 images and videos of child pornography.

Upon his release from prison, GRAZIANI will be required to register as a sex offender.  As a special condition of his 10-year period of supervised release, the United States Probation Office is authorized to monitor GRAZIANI’s computer use and conduct random searches of his residence, automobile and workplace.  Also, GRAZIANI must not have any unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18.

This investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  The case was prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Richard J. Schechter.

Acting U.S. Attorney Dannehy noted that this prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov