United States

‘Demon Inside Me': Bail Hearing for Ex-Tahoe Ski Teacher on Child Porn Charges

An ex-Lake Tahoe ski school instructor facing federal child pornography charges is not the predator prosecutors make him out to be and should be released from jail on house arrest pending his trial, his lawyer said in court documents filed ahead of a bail hearing Tuesday for the suspect.

Federal prosecutors counter that Stephan DeGraffenreid, 26, should remain in jail without bail until his trial is set to begin in U.S. District Court in Reno June 13 on charges including sexual exploitation of a minor.

DeGraffenreid, who was fired from his job as an assistant at the Heavenly Ski Resort's ski school, is accused of photographing young children in a bathroom at a daycare center his mother manages inside a church. He pleaded not guilty on April 6.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Shannon Bryant said DeGraffenreid is an "extremely dangerous predator to our community's most vulnerable population group" who should not be released before his trial.

"By his own admission, (he) cannot control his child pornography addiction and attraction to children," Bryant wrote in court documents filed Monday. She said that during an interview with detectives he "equated his behavior to having a 'demon inside me."'

His lawyer, David Houston, said that contrary to prosecutors' claims, DeGraffenreid is not a pedophile or a predator. He took the photos from a distance outside an open bathroom door and never touched any of the children, Houston wrote in a motion Monday seeking his release on strict conditions.

Although DeGraffenreid "may possess recurrent sexual fantasies and urges involving prepubescent females, his alleged offense are non-contact sexual offenses," Houston wrote. "This is not a situation where defendant was luring anyone into a specific position in order to be photographed."

A psychological risk assessment conducted by Dr. Earl Nielsen found DeGraffenreid to be "a low to moderate risk for future sex crimes and a very low risk for violent or hands-on sex crimes," Houston said.

A bail hearing was set for 3 p.m. Tuesday.

DeGraffenreid was arrested March 30 on a single count of sexual exploitation of a minor. A criminal complaint claims his cellphone found on the slopes at the Heavenly ski resort was filled with nude photos of prepubescent females he apparently downloaded from the internet.

Two additional counts of sexual exploitation and one child pornography count was added after federal agents said a search of DeGraffenreid's home found additional images of the children taken at the church daycare center in the small town of Gardnerville.

"Compared to the extremely disturbing admissions the defendant makes about his criminal conduct, his attraction to children, his desire to touch children and his uncontrollable compulsions, Dr. Nielsen's so called `risk' assessment is woefully insufficient evidence to establish that the defendant does not present a risk of danger to the community," Bryant wrote.

Kevin Cooper, a spokesman for Heavenly Ski Resort, said DeGraffenreid was fired after resort officials learned about the investigation but had "no reason to believe that the alleged activity has any connection to Heavenly Ski Resort or its guests."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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