Santa Cruz Babysitter Found With 30K Images Of Child Porn: Cops

SANTA CRUZ, CA -- A man who worked as a babysitter and camp counselor in Santa Cruz County pleaded guilty to child pornography conspiracy after authorities found more than 30,000 images of children in a hard drive, the U.S. Attorney's Office recently announced.

Ryan Michael Spencer, 21, pleaded guilty in federal court in San Francisco to two counts of production of child pornography, conspiracy to distribute and receive child pornography, distribution of child pornography, receipt of child pornography, possession of child pornography, and felony contempt of court.

Spencer admitted that he produced pornographic images of more than a dozen children with whom he came into contact through his jobs as a babysitter and camp counselor in the Santa Cruz area, officials said.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said images surfaced of Spencer molesting a child that he was babysitting. Spencer created other image by surreptitiously photographing the children’s genitalia and pubic areas while the children were naked and in his care.

Spencer admitted that, beginning no later than March 2015 and continuing until his arrest in April 2017, he conspired with his co-defendant, Tiburon-area babysitter Bryan Petersen, 27, to trade the child pornography he produced for other images of child pornography that Petersen took of children in Petersen’s care, officials said.

The two men also conspired to distribute and receive child pornography from other sources, officials said.

Spencer is expected to be sentenced in February 2019. The maximum statutory penalty is 30 years for each count of production of child pornography and 20 years for the other child pornography counts, a fine of up to $250,000, plus restitution to the victims, officials said.

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