WASHINGTON–A San Diego man was convicted Thursday by a federal jury on 18 counts of receipt of child pornography and five counts of possession of child pornography.
The case originated from a joint investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the FBI into the illegal sale of chlordane and DDT on the Internet. According to court documents and three days of trial testimony, David Grummer, 45, who was employed at a hazardous waste recycling facility, was selling banned chemicals on the Internet. Following an EPA/FBI search warrant of his residence in Oceanside forensic examiners discovered child pornography on one of the computer hard drives seized. According to evidence at trial and court documents, the FBI Cyber Squad then conducted an investigation that led to a second search warrant of the residence and the discovery of hundreds of images of child pornography on five separate hard drives. Further forensic analysis revealed Grummer utilized file share programs to search for and download images depicting the sexual exploitation of children.
Grummer faces a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison and up to a maximum term of 20 years in prison for each of the charges of receipt of child pornography and a maximum term of 10 years in prison for each of the possession of child pornography charges. For each charge, Grummer also faces a maximum fine of $250,000, and a mandatory minimum of five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release.
Grummer has been detained since his Dec. 5, 2008, arrest. His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 17 before U.S. District Court Judge Dana M. Sabraw.
