Valley Focus : Sun Valley : Man Convicted in Pornography Case

A Sun Valley man on Tuesday became the first person in the Los Angeles area to be convicted of possessing child pornography obtained from Internet bulletin boards.

David Luera, 41, pleaded no contest to a single count of possessing child pornography at his arraignment in Municipal Court in Downtown Los Angeles.

Judge T. K. Herman sentenced Luera, a salesman, to three years probation, fined him $1,350 and ordered him to perform 240 hours of community service.

The judge also ordered Luera to register as a sex offender and to forfeit the computer, monitor and keyboard that police seized during a March 15 search of his home, Deputy City Atty. Deborah Sanchez said.

Although the case carries high-tech implications, it began as a low-tech police investigation. Los Angeles Police Department detectives targeted Luera after learning he had placed an ad in a magazine seeking an “open relationship” with one or two couples interested in “family nudity.”

“ ‘Family nudity’ is a buzzword for child pornography,’ ” Sanchez said.

An undercover officer posing as a pedophile responded to the ad and began a correspondence with Luera, authorities said. That communication, however, did not occur over the computer, relying instead on more traditional methods of communication--the U. S. mail and the telephone.

Luera eventually admitted his interest in child pornography to the undercover officer, said Detective William Dworin of the LAPD’s Sexually Exploited Child Unit. Luera also told the officer that he had used his home computer to download pornographic images of children from Internet bulletin boards.

Sanchez said the police search of Luera’s computer hard drive uncovered a collection of electronic photographs, 36 of which depicted boys under 14 involved in sex acts or exposing their genitals. Another 45 images showed child erotica, the prosecutor said.

Sanchez added that it was impossible to determine the source of the photographs.

“If they pull it off the Internet, they can do it person-to-person, and there’s no direct evidence where this stuff came from,” she said.