A former substitute teacher in Central California was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in state prison after pleading guilty to more than 20 counts of child pornography, including possessing and distributing content depicting “torture and sexual sadism” of young children, officials said.
Gregory Allen Kornman, 55, of Nipomo, was charged with 19 felony counts of transmission of child pornography, two felony counts of possession of child pornography and one misdemeanor count of a lewd act in public, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Kornman was employed by the Bonita Unified School District in San Dimas when, earlier this year, a San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s deputy caught him masturbating inside his car on the side of a road in Nipomo, according to court records.
A subsequent investigation led to the discovery of more than 3,000 videos and images of child pornography on his cellphone and computer, officials said.
The material depicted sexual sadism and violence against infants, toddlers and young children, according to testimony by Detective Patricia Montalvo, the DA’s office said. Evidence presented in court also included written statements and audio recordings in which Kornman “expressed in great detail his desires to kidnap, rape, and torture young children.”
Kornman, who worked as a substitute teacher for students from kindergarten through middle school, also exchanged online messages with members of what prosecutors described as a “satanic pedophile community,” according to court documents reviewed by the San Luis Obispo Tribune.
Some of the messages — which were exchanged through platforms including Skype, Zoom and Teleguard — included references to drug use, satanism and child torture.
“Hail Satan! Hail meth! Hail child rape and torture,” an all-caps message read. “Hail the satanic pedo brotherhood,” read another.
“I thank Father Satan every single f–king day for designing me to be a sadistic, no-limits pedo,” Kornman wrote when describing one of his sexual fantasies.
Prosecutors had recommended a 13-year sentence — about five years less than the maximum under California law — due to Kornman’s “acceptance of responsibility” when pleading guilty.
Ultimately, San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Jesse Marino sentenced Kornman to eight years in prison, which District Attorney Dan Dow called “disappointing,” the Tribune reported.
“The horrific sexually sadistic conduct perpetrated against infants, toddlers and young children is of the utmost morally bankrupt and vile nature that must be severely punished to deter others from committing the same offense,” the DA’s office sentencing brief read.