A youth baseball umpire who has worked with children throughout the Bay Area was charged with child pornography possession in Santa Clara County, prosecutors said Friday.
Graham Bessermin, 38, was arrested on May 29 after a 6-month investigation by Morgan Hill police.
They received a tip last November about a social media account uploading child porn, and learned of 18 people nationwide who had shared child pornography with two men in San Martin and Morgan Hill. Bessermin is alleged to have been in the group of 18.
The two men were charged and arrested, but Deputy District Attorney O'Bryan Kenney said their names are not being publically connected with Bessermin at this time to protect the victims' privacy.
Morgan Hill police identified Bessermin as a suspect in the case on Memorial Day. They allegedly seized child porn from his phone and arrested him two days later.
Bessermin was a baseball umpire for high school kids in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League for several years, and worked with teenagers between 13 and 17 years old at The Camp Recovery Center in Scotts Valley for ten years beginning in 2007, prosecutors said.
Police also learned Bessermin worked in San Francisco at the Edgewood Center for Children and Families as a nighttime supervisor. The organization has been cooperating with law enforcement in their ongoing investigation.
