Nonprofit Attorney For Foster Children Charged With Child Porn

LOS ANGELES, CA — A former supervising attorney at a Los Angeles nonprofit that provides legal services to foster children, was charged with possessing and distributing child pornography Monday, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Charles Aghoian, 61, of Camarillo, pleaded not guilty Monday to three counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography in federal court. At the time of the alleged conduct, Aghoian was a supervising attorney at the Children's Law Center of California, which maintains offices in Monterey Park, Lancaster and Sacramento.

The Children's Law Center of California provides legal representation for abused, neglected, or abandoned children who fall under the jurisdiction of the state's juvenile dependency court system, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Aghoian voluntarily surrendered early Monday to law enforcement and was later arraigned in federal court. A federal magistrate judge set his bond at $1 million and a May 6 trial date was scheduled.

According to an indictment, Aghoian in December 2020 and January 2021 knowingly distributed sexually explicit videos featuring children. In April 2021, Aghoian also allegedly possessed on his smartphone images of child sexual abuse material, including children under the age of 12 years, prosecutors allege.

If convicted, Aghoian would face several decades behind bars.

A Chuck Charles Aghoian, identified as a supervising attorney at the Children's Law Center of California, was profiled in a 2019 volunteer spotlight posted to the Children's Law Center of California Facebook page for his volunteer work at a Los Angeles County group home for youths teaching them photography.

According to the 2019 post, "For the past four years, he has been conducting Fostering Photography, a 4-week program teaching our children at [a Los Angeles County group home for abused children] photography and how to look at things from a different perspective."

The facility provides out-of-home care for girls aged 6 through 18, most of whom have been physically or sexually abused and who live in Los Angeles County, according to the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Service.

The volunteer spotlight quoted Aghoian saying, "I would go to (the group home) often for a particular resident. I eventually got in touch with a staff member and we created a photography workshop. While I have continued off and on to volunteer at two other group homes, (the group home) has always been my preferred location.

"My greatest pleasure in working with the children at (the group home) was the opportunity to see them as who they are...children."

The FBI is investigating the case, and Assistant United States Attorneys Nisha Chandran of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section and Alexandra Kelley of the General Crimes Section are prosecuting this case.