Bonita man acquires new child porn charge

A youth sports coach and photographer accused of having child pornography in his Bonita Springs trailer home now faces a charge of transporting child pornography.

John Edward Kutchmarek, 40, of 27951 New York St., No. 4, pleaded innocent in federal court in the spring after his March arrest and indictment on a charge of possession of child pornography. A federal grand jury met secretly on Wednesday, handing up a new indictment that added a charge of transportation of child pornography.

Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Molloy said Kutchmarek sent more than 100 sexually explicit photos of children via his computer.

“There were a great deal of images,” Molloy said Thursday, declining to comment on the exact number. “There were a lot.”

Kutchmarek also worked as a security guard and operated the freelance photography company Action Team Photos in Bonita Springs. He took photos of youth sports teams from Lee and Collier counties and coached Lee County soccer and baseball teams. He also was a big brother in the county’s Big Brothers/Big Sisters program.

A message was left Thursday for Kutchmarek’s defense attorney, Steven Leskovich, but he was unavailable for comment. Kutchmarek has been jailed without bond since his arrest.

Kutchmarek’s arraignment is set for 10:30 a.m. Monday in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers.

FBI agents and Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputies searched Kutchmarek’s home March 8 after an undercover agent traced some child pornography to Kutchmarek’s home computer. Inside, they found about $18,000 and pictures of children and adults in sex acts, investigators said.

Two spindles of CDs and DVDs that contained pictures and movies of children and adults in sexually explicit positions were confiscated from inside the safe, according to an affidavit in the case.

The pictures were “not those kids,” Molloy said of local children on Kutchmarek’s teams, those he took professional photos of, nor any little brother in the Big Brothers program.

Last week, Assistant U.S. Attorney Yolande Viacava said prosecutors planned to indict Kutchmarek on this new charge. Leskovich has said that Kutchmarek could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

With his new indictment, Kutchmarek faces a mandatory minimum of five years behind bars if convicted. The possession of child pornography charge is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Molloy declined to comment as to whom Kutchmarek is alleged to have sent pornographic pictures.