Robert Krietzman (L) and John Brookhouser (R)
SANTA CRUZ — Police working alongside Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children (SVICAC) have arrested two men as of last week, after over a year of investigation into alleged child pornography distribution. Arrested were 51-year-old Robert Krietzman of Watsonville and 66-year-old John Brookhouser of Scotts Valley, both on charges of possession of child pornography.
On Tuesday, May 17th, Santa Cruz police and SVICAC, as well as the Santa Cruz County Sheriff, served a search warrant at Krietzman’s home on Hawthorne Avenue in Watsonville. There, they found a significant amount of child pornography stored on his computer, including a number of images depicting prepubescent children in sexual situations at the home and in his vehicle. Krietzman was also identified as a source of child porn being shared on a peer-to-peer network.
Given that Krietzman is a first grade teacher at Martin Luther King Jr. Academy, his employer was immediately notified of his arrest. At this point, authorities believe Krietzman kept the pornography sharing at home, although they are reviewing all personal and school computers to which he may have had access.
Later that same day, Scotts Valley Police and SVICAC paid a visit to John Brookhouser at his mobile home on Scotts Valley Drive. Brookhouser had also been identified as a source of child porn on a peer-to-peer network, and detectives seized a number of computers and external drives that were used to download, store, and upload child porn on the network. Brookhouser confessed to both downloading and uploading files to the network.
As it so happens, Brookhouser has a previous conviction on his record from 1991 for possession of child pornography in the state of Florida.
Both Krietzman and Brookhouser were transported and book into the Santa Cruz County Jail, with bail set at $5,000 each.
