Marina del Rey Man Arrested on Child Pornography Charges

A Marina del Rey man has been charged with producing and distributing child pornography after authorities searched his apartment and seized hundreds of videotapes, films, photographs and magazines depicting children involved in explicit sexual acts, Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block said Friday.

Bill Harris, 39, “produced and reproduced child pornography and distributed it to locations all over the United States and to other parts of the world,” Block told a news conference.

On at least seven prior occasions, Block added, agents from the U.S. Customs Service have seized pornographic material that Harris had attempted to import. The suspect also was convicted on child molestation charges in California in 1971, the sheriff said.

Drugs, Weapons Also Seized

Among the materials seized from Harris’ apartment on Thursday were 100 videotapes, 35 films, 800 slides, 1,000 photographs and 100 magazines, Block said. Additionally, sheriff’s deputies, customs agents and U.S. postal inspectors seized two pounds of marijuana, drug paraphernalia, a video camera, two handguns and a shotgun, he added.

Block said he could not estimate the dollar value of Harris’ business but he described it as “very large.”

Harris’ arrest, however, “probably made only a very little dent” in the local child pornography business, Block said.

Much of Harris’ business, according to Block, involved transferring 8-millimeter film to videotape cassettes.

Federal authorities are investigating charges against others who may have sent pornographic material to Harris for transfer to videotape, Postal Inspector Ken Elsesser said.

Harris is being held in Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.