Police Reopen Old Case against Warner Christian Teacher Charged with Child Porn
By Richard Conn & Annie Martin
Edgewater police are reopening a decade-old case involving a Warner Christian Academy teacher who was arrested Monday by the FBI and charged with producing and distributing child pornography. Agents found thousands of pornographic images of children on the computer of Matthew Graziotti, who turned 43 on Tuesday, when they executed a search warrant Monday at his Mango Tree Drive home in Edgewater. Graziotti is a fifth-grade teacher at the South Daytona private school and also served as director of the school’s summer day camp. The school’s superintendent, Mark Tress, said Graziotti was placed on unpaid administrative suspension pending results of the case. Graziotti is being held at Seminole County Jail. Following Graziotti’s arrest, Edgewater police are going to look into a 2004 complaint lodged against him, Capt. Joe Mahoney said. “In 2004, there was an allegation made against Mr. Graziotti that he had misconduct with minor children,” Mahoney said. “We investigated it; we weren’t able to produce obviously any incriminating results at that time, and knowing what we know now, we’ve reactivated it.” Warner Christian administrators reassured parents Tuesday they think it’s unlikely Graziotti harmed students while on campus. Yet, school leaders say they’re still not sure whether any Warner students were involved in the 141 images and six videos depicting the sexual abuse and exploitation of children authorities said Graziotti shared with an undercover FBI agent. Administrators say investigators have indicated the incidents occurred in secluded places, and Graziotti wasn’t alone with students for any length of time. “Everything that we have been told by the investigators, it appears to be his (routine) has been private and in the home,” Tress said. But since the charges became public Monday, a Daytona Beach attorney said at least one parent has come forward to make accusations against Graziotti. Attorney Jason Harr wrote a letter to the school on Tuesday saying a parent intended to sue. Administrators sent a letter to parents Tuesday saying the school is cooperating with investigators, including handing over Graziotti’s personnel file to the FBI. Graziotti’s last security screening in June 2013 was clean, the letter states. Tress said the school will provide counselors for staff, parents and children at least until Friday. Staff members haven’t discussed the charges against Graziotti with the nearly 200 children who attend the summer camp, preferring to leave that conversation to parents. “Many parents have said, ‘We were fooled — we would never have suspected him,’ ” Tress said. “He was clearly living two lives.” According to the federal documents released Monday, Graziotti also coached middle school sports. Tress said Graziotti coached high school tennis up until a year and a half ago but did not coach younger children at Warner. Tammy Young, whose three sons attend Warner, said parents and administrators have been led to believe the abuse mostly happened in Graziotti’s home and that’s helped allay their fears. “I know as a parent of a kid that was extremely exposed to him, I kind of sighed a little bit of relief,” said Young, whose husband, Brandon Young, is a South Daytona city councilman. Young’s oldest son was in Graziotti’s fifth-grade homeroom class, she said, but never in his home. She hasn’t heard from any parents who think their children were abused, though she’s spoken with a lot of parents over the past couple of days who are “extremely shocked” by the charges. They’ve been mostly supportive of Warner. “If I was worried, I wouldn’t be here right now,” she said at the school Tuesday afternoon as she picked up her daughter from band practice. Edgewater police wouldn’t say who made the 2004 complaint they are now re-investigating. Graziotti served as a youth pastor at Edgewater’s Friendship Community Church in the early 2000s, said Cindy Casey of Edgewater. “I knew him very well,” said Casey, a News-Journal employee. “My son went to the summer camp program there for a few years and (Graziotti) talked me into enrolling my son in the after-school program at the church, too.” Casey said Graziotti stopped working for the church, then known as Friendship Baptist, “very quickly.” Tim McCardel, the pastor at Friendship Community Church, did not respond Tuesday to messages seeking comment. Graziotti also worked as an outreach coordinator at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach from June 2004 to April 2005, hospital officials said. In June 2004, Graziotti and his wife, Jennifer, filed for divorce, which was finalized in 2005. They have a 10-year-old son. Graziotti has been a member at Edgewater Alliance Church on Ridgewood Avenue, but an administrator at the church said Tuesday that Graziotti’s membership has been suspended as a result of his arrest. One folder on Graziotti’s computer was named “personally known” and contained 41 sub-folders titled with different boys’ names, according to the release. In one of the sub-folders, agents found a picture of Graziotti sexually abusing a “prepubescent” boy, the release states. The picture was produced with a digital camera that agents found in Graziotti’s residence. — Staff Writer Dustin Wyatt contributed to this report.
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