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The former Southern California primary school teacher was sentenced to prison for possessing hundreds of child sexual abuse materials.
Stephen Pilar, 47, of Las Vegas, worked as a fifth-grade teacher at the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District at San Gabriel Valley School, according to the US Attorney’s office.
In February and April 2020, while living in Victorville, Pilar used Bittorrent, a digital file sharing software, to download child porn videos and images from the web.
Prosecutors received and downloaded 444 videos and images containing children engaged in sexually explicit behavior, saying they “deliberately owned the video for a while before deleting it.”
In April 2020, Pilar was arrested on state charges and later stopped allowing federal lawsuits to be pursued, officials said.
In August 2024, he was charged with two counts of receiving child pornography and two counts of possessing child pornography. In December 2024, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.
Stephen Victor Pilar is seen in photos released by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office after his arrest on April 22, 2020.
“His actions have caused direct and significant harm to the victims in this case, and his crimes have been exacerbated by the fact that he was teaching young children at the time,” the prosecutor said in his memorandum of determination. “When actually [Pilar] After downloading and watching CSAM, he took part in the permanent re-sacrificing of the victims. ”
On March 28, Pilar was sentenced to four years in federal prison.
“It’s important to protect children from sexual predators, and my office will not be merciless in its efforts to punish those who commit these crimes,” said US lawyer Martin Estrada.
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