Little League Official Accused of Spying on Children

A 65-year-old Long Beach Little League administrator who allegedly used a hidden camera to spy on children using a bathroom in his home faces federal child pornography charges, authorities said Wednesday.

Laurent “Larry” Blumenthal was arrested Tuesday afternoon at his Temple Avenue home in Signal Hill by FBI agents and Signal Hill police, said Police Chief Don Pedersen.

Blumenthal has been indicted on charges of possessing child pornography, FBI spokeswoman Laura Bosley said.

On Wednesday, Blumenthal was ordered held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Johnson. A bail hearing will be held Friday.

According to an affidavit, Blumenthal placed a hidden camera in his upstairs bathroom to secretly film juvenile boys.

A 14-year-old boy spending the night at Blumenthal’s home in January discovered the hidden camera and a motion detector, Bosley said. He took pictures of the spying devices and turned them over to police, she said.

On Jan. 14, a sheriff’s computer forensic examination team searched computers seized from Blumenthal’s home and “identified images of child pornography on the hard drive,” Bosley said. They also found videotapes, she said.

Blumenthal had been a senior director--overseeing coaches and managers and performing other administrative duties--for the Long Beach Little League for more than a decade. He resigned the day his home was searched, Pedersen said.