Georgia - Dirk LaPaglia Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges Involving Neighbors

ATLANTA—DIRK LaPAGLIA, 53, of Alpharetta, Georgia, pleaded guilty in federal court to 21 counts of possessing child pornography. LaPAGLIA admitted that he manufactured hundreds of sexually explicit images of nearly two dozen minor children by superimposing photos of their faces onto pornographic images.

United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said about the case, “This defendant was considered a friendly neighbor and a trustworthy figure in his community. He abused this trust by taking innocent pictures of his neighbors’ daughters and transforming them into lewd, sexually explicit images, and was turning former friends into victims.”

Brian D. Lamkin, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, said, “The FBI will continue to commit significant investigative resources toward these types of cases where a child is a victim, and, in this case, adults from the neighborhood who were also victimized. Our agents will also continue to work closely with local law enforcement and the community in pursuing such cases, and make sure such defendants are taken off the streets and brought to justice in federal court.”

According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges, and court documents: The case began when Johns Creek authorities investigated a series of stalking incidents in which neighborhood residents, to include at least one minor, were sent anonymous packages containing lingerie and letters describing sexual encounters involving various adult and child members of the neighborhood.

On April 13, 2011, LaPAGLIA was interviewed by local authorities and, after initially denying being the sender of the packages, admitted that he had, in fact, delivered several such parcels to girls and women in his neighborhood.

Two days later, local police executed a search warrant at his house and found additional sexually explicit letters along with a cache of photos that LaPAGLIA had created by combining photos of neighborhood women and girls with pornographic images. The police seized LaPAGLIA’s computer for further examination. On the computer, they found a collection of over 600 images containing the faces/upper torsos of neighborhood girls and the naked bodies of others engaged in various sex acts. Authorities have identified at least two dozen victims of this conduct—actual minor females who lived in LaPAGLIA’s neighborhood or adjacent communities.

The examination of the computer also revealed that LaPAGLIA had clandestinely entered several neighbors’ homes, found the girl’s bedroom, placed the girl’s undergarments on the girl’s bed, and then filmed himself engaging in auto-erotic behavior.

The computer evidence additionally showed that LaPAGLIA had established a Facebook account in which he masqueraded as a high school girl in an effort to obtain more photos of his victims.

Sentencing is scheduled for January 12, 2012, at 3:00 p.m., before United States District Judge Orinda D. Evans.

This case is being investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Johns Creek Police Department.

Assistant United States Attorney Robert McBurney is prosecuting the case.

For further information, please contact Sally Q. Yates, United States Attorney, or Charysse L. Alexander, Executive Assistant United States Attorney, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney’s Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan.

http://www.justice.gov/usao/gan/press/2011/10-06-11c.html