Experts: Child porn suspect’s ties to children fits pattern

By Frank Fernandez
News-Journal
July 20, 2014

http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20140720/NEWS/140729958/0/search

Experts say child porn suspect Matthew Graziotti’s multiple contacts with children fit a classic pattern seen among pedophiles.

“Classic, classic, predator behavior of using every means possible to gain access to kids and access to and authority over kids,” said David Clohessy with the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests.

Graziotti, 43, was arrested by the FBI last week after a search of his Edgewater home revealed thousands of images of child pornography on his computer, authorities said. He faces federal charges of production, distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography, and is being held without bail at the Seminole County jail.

Graziotti has a preliminary hearing set for 10 a.m. Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas B. Smith at the federal courthouse in Orlando.

Graziotti had worked at Warner Christian Academy, a private school in South Daytona, for about nine years, teaching fifth- to eighth-grade classes and was director of the school’s summer day camp.

He was an adult volunteer leader in scouting, according to the Boy Scouts of America. A website listed him with Cub Scout Pack 425 in Edgewater. Graziotti also volunteered to help supervise children at the Edgewater Alliance Church.

After his arrest, Warner Christian suspended him without pay, the church suspended his membership, and the scouts gave him the boot.

Ninety-nine percent of teachers want to help kids, said Steve Sally, executive director of The House Next Door, a multi-faceted family services agency that will take part in a forum on child safety and welfare on Monday sponsored in part by Warner Christian Academy.

While not speaking about Graziotti’s case in particular, Sally said some people seeking to prey on children will join organizations putting them close to children.

“It’s all about them having access to the children and the quickest way is for them to get into a position where they could be in isolation with the kids,” Sally said.

When the FBI searched Graziotti’s home on Mango Tree Drive in Edgewater, they found a computer with a file folder containing 8,761 images, many depicting sexual abuse and exploitation of prepubescent males, according to a criminal complaint. The FBI also found another computer folder titled “personally known” with 41 subfolders with boys’ names.

Mark Tress, superintendent at Warner Christian Academy, said Thursday that no children from the school had been identified as victims so far. Tress could not be reached Friday. The Boy Scouts of America said Friday the group was not aware of any victims.

Working or volunteering in close proximity to children at schools, churches and other organizations is a pattern, said Clohessy with the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests. The positions bring added respectability for someone wanting to abuse children, he said.

“He’s not just a friendly neighbor with a lot of video games and big screen TV that will draw youngsters to him,” Clohessy said. “In these positions, he will have some degree of respect and power that comes from having a good title.”

Most teachers and volunteers working with children are there for the right reasons, said Tony Rodriguez, a special agent supervisor with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in Orlando.

“In general, for the most part, most of these people that have positions in those types of groups or associations are good people, law-abiding citizens that want to do good for the community and the kids,” Rodriguez said.

Child pornographers and abusers come from a cross section of society, he said.

“You have people who may be homeless that have a tendency to do this all the way to leaders of schools, clergy, all kinds of people, all kinds of classes, lower class, middle class and upper class.”

Rodriguez said he did not want to focus on any particular occupation or civic activities of pedophiles.

“It’s probably more appropriate to say that a person that has an attraction to children of whatever age is going to be gravitating toward a place or an organization that gives him access to children,” Rodriguez said.

And some will turn to a keyboard and a computer mouse to find their child victims rather than volunteering for a group focused on children, Rodriguez said.

Mark Jones, chief executive officer with the Community Partnership for Children, will also be presenting at the forum on Monday. Jones said he will discuss the signs that parents can look for that signal children need help.

“For a lot of boys, especially young men, it’s very difficult, very embarrassing for them to come forward,” Jones said. “So you really want to encourage people to come forward. A lot of people don’t realize that they can carry these emotional scars for life.”