Teacher admits to porn charge

unedited Tahoe Mt. News September article

Gronwold pleads guilty to child porn

By Kathryn Reed

Karsten Gronwold will be spending the next eight years in a federal prison.
The Lake Tahoe Unified School District elementary schoolteacher pleaded guilty last month to possession of child pornography.
He will formally be sentenced Oct. 29. Which penitentiary the 50-year-old will spend the next eight years in is not known.
“I wouldn’t have (accepted the deal) if we weren’t satisfied,” said Timothy Zindel, assistant federal defender who represented Gronwold. Gronwold was not available for comment.
Zindel said his client is doing fine, but did not elaborate other than to say Gronwold wishes he weren’t behind bars.
The other nine counts against Gronwold were dismissed in the plea arrangement.
Gronwold was arrested Sept. 1, 2006, at his Meyers home. Investigators seized hundreds of photographs of children, mostly boys between the ages of 6 months and 12 years old. Some of the boys either are or were students in the local school district.
The local district attorney’s office plans to file one count of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child against Gronwold before the sentencing.
“Most likely the way the system works is we won’t get him until after he finishes his federal commitment unless he makes an application to do so,” said Lisa Sarafini, El Dorado County assistant district attorney.
Gronwold was hired by the district in 1990. Gronwold’s wife, Cindy, still teaches in LTUSD and their two children go to area schools.
The district will proceed with the termination process once Gronwold is sentenced, according to Beth Delacour, human resources director. In the mean time, he continues to be on unpaid administrative leave.
It is possible Gronwold could resign, which would speed up the process of being able to permanently fill his position.
According to Delacour, his arrest and subsequent guilty plea have not led to any hiring changes in the district. Live-scan fingerprints and background checks have always been the norm to weed out people who have been convicted of crimes.