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Canyon Country Burglary Results In Four Arrests, Recovery Of $2000 Worth Of Ugg Boots

Suspected Child Pornographer Accepts Plea Deal

Child pornography resulted in a six-month jail sentence for a Santa Clarita man Monday, officials said.


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Austen Timothy Calams, 35, returned to court Monday to accept a plea deal.

“The defendant pleaded no contest to one count of possession of child or youth porngraphy, and was immediately remanded into custody where he is going to be serving 180 days in county jail in accordance with his plea agreement,” said Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. “He will be sentenced on March 19, 2018, and according to the plea agreement, he is expected to be sentenced to five years probation and must register for sex offender counseling and the sex offender database.”

The other three counts Calams faced involving distribution of child or youth pornography are to be dropped at his March sentencing in accordance with the plea, according to Santiago.

Calams entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors, pleading “no-contest” to one of his four counts. He is to immediately serve 180 days in a Los Angeles County jail, after which he is scheduled to return to court in March of next year to be sentenced to five years formal probation and be ordered to register publically as a sex offender and complete sex offender counseling.

After a tip was received by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, sent from the online video communication site, Skype, the IP address was tracked to the Valencia man’s home and reported to local authorities.

On May 10 of this year, law enforcement officials issued a warrant to search Calams’s Valencia apartment — one block from Rio Norte Junior High. During the search of Calams’ home, investigators obtained two “electronic devices” containing more than 500 sexually explicit photos and videos, said officials.

Related: Suspected Child Pornographer Pleads ‘Not Guilty’

“This is a next-level case, it’s about as sick as it gets,” said Lt. Kent Wegener, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the local agency responsible for the arrest.

Calams would later turn himself into law enforcement officials following the issuing of the search warrant.

Calams was released on $80,000 bail from the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station in June, according to Sheriff’s records.

Calams pleaded “not guilty” back in July to charges of utilizing online social media platforms to receive and distribute child pornography,

Following his bail posting, Calams returned to his job the next day at the Canyon Country Kohl’s but has since been let go by the corporation, according to a corporate spokesperson.

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Suspected Child Pornographer Accepts Plea Deal

8 comments

  1. 180 days in jail? that’s it??? Really? And this is a “next level” case???!!

  2. there is a huge difference between looking at web sites and acting out. 180 days is a long time for being on the Internet, looking. Why not focus on the person who is POSTING these photos & videos. Why go after a drug ADDICT when the drug dealer never has any consequences. It’s an addition people. Help the addict, go after the supplier.

    • PMD, are you kidding? You’re defending and are sympathetic to this sicko? Yes go after both, but looking, recording, storing porn of children is not innocent and he had “more than 500 sexually explicit photos and videos, said officials.” What is wrong with you!

  3. Wtf???! He was my manager at Kohls

  4. ayooooooooo ????????

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About Caleb Lunetta

Caleb has been a Santa Clarita resident for most of his life. After attending Hart High School, Caleb went on to study political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara along with College of the Canyons.