Teacher From Watsonville Sentenced For Child Porn Possession

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA – A former elementary school teacher from Watsonville was sentenced in federal court in San Jose to five years of prison for possessing child pornography depicting children below the age of 12.

Robert Krietzman, 53, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Beth Freeman on Tuesday to one count of possessing child pornography and was given the five-year sentence on the same day.

The plea and sentence were agreed to in a plea agreement between prosecutors and Krietzman. Krietzman had requested to have the sentencing on the same day as the plea.

At the time he was arrested at his Watsonville home in May 2016, Krietzman was a first-grade teacher in Salinas.

Prosecutors said in a sentencing brief he was an elementary school teacher for 23 years and had taught kindergarten, first grade and second grade in Oakland, Napa, Soquel, Castroville, San Jose, Watsonville and
Salinas during that time.

U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Abraham Simmons said Krietzman admitted in his plea agreement to possessing more than 600 images and videos on his electronic devices that depicted minors, including prepubescent girls, in explicit sexual conduct.

Krietzman was arrested after a Santa Cruz detective traced pornography files to Krietzman's computers and a search revealed child pornography images on two computers and two thumb drives he owned.

Krietzman, who had no previous criminal history, "accepts full responsibility for the conduct he has admitted," defense attorney Peter Leeming said in a filing.

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