U.S. doctor found guilty of 6 of 7 counts in child pornography case
AP WorldStream. 05/24/07. By Doug Gross, Associated Press Writer
Atlanta, Georgia - A federal jury on Thursday found a Georgia doctor guilty of six counts downloading child pornography and taking sexually explicit pictures of boys under 18.
Gregory Kapordelis, 46, faced seven counts of child pornography in U.S. District Court for acts, including downloading child pornography, that allegedly happened between 2001 and 2004.
Kapordelis was found not guilty of making a video of himself having sex with a person under 18 while on a visit overseas. A sentencing hearing will be held Aug. 8. Federal prosecutors say they will seek the maximum penalty for Kapordelis.
"This is a defendant who committed heinous crimes against children," said assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Danzig. "We're going to seek the sentence he deserves." Kapordelis's attorney, Don Samuel, had argued the pornography, found on computers in the doctor's home, could have been downloaded by any number of people who visited or lived in the home -- including teenage boys and another doctor who lived there when Kapordelis was overseas.
Kapordelis acknowledged traveling to the Czech Republic -- where the age of sexual consent is 15 -- to have sex with teenage boys and spending time with teenagers both overseas and at his home. But his lawyer argued that photos allegedly taken by Kapordelis of the genitals of at least two teen boys were a "bad joke" that prosecutors never proved were taken for sexual purposes. He was charged with taking the pictures both in the U.S. and during a trip to Greece.
When he was arrested after landing at a New York airport in 2004, Kapordelis originally was charged with traveling to Russia to have sex with boys. Those sex tourism charges were eventually dropped -- with his lawyers saying the Russia case was an attempt to extort money from Kapordelis. The current charges stemmed from images the government says were found during a search of his home after the arrest. Prosecutors showed jurors what they said was a private file on Kapordelis's
computer that contained images of young-looking males in sexual positions and activity on an online newsgroup called "Pretty Boys."
He also had been charged with videotaping himself having sex with a teen boy in Prague and bringing that tape back into the U.S., where it is illegal. The jury acquitted him on that charge. Prosecutors never produced the boy or any witness to verify his age. Each of the seven counts against Kapordelis carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, but sentencing guidelines would likely not call for that strict a punishment if he is convicted.