A former Boy Scout volunteer in Marin was sentenced to nearly three years in prison for possessing child pornography.
John Cazier Blecka of San Rafael received a 33-month term on Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco. Blecka will turn 66 years old in March.
“Defendant admits that he possessed over 150 images and videos visually depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including depictions of infants, toddlers, and sadistic and masochistic activities,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina Liu wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “Defendant also admits that he distributed at least one image of child pornography to another person.”
A defense attorney for Blecka, Mary McNamara, said he is a devoted husband, father and civic leader who got sucked into the netherworld of internet chat rooms.
“Anonymity works in an insidious way and is super-charged on the internet – the more extreme the image, the greater the currency of the person who posts it,” McNamara wrote in a sentencing filing. “Mr. Blecka was one of countless strangers on the internet assuming identities in the hopes of getting some sort of validation, of feeling better about themselves. It is in these more anonymous chatrooms that he first encountered child pornography and the currency that it gave him.”
Blecka, a public accountant, was indicted and arrested in 2019. The indictment followed an investigation by the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Blecka pleaded guilty in October to a single possession count. The defense sought a two-year sentence, noting that Blecka has no prior criminal history and broad community support.
The prosecution sought a prison sentence of six years and six months.
“As a Boy Scouts volunteer and leader, he guided young children through activities and took on a position of trust in the community,” Liu wrote. “Defendant knew it was important for children to grow up in safe and healthy environments, and yet he chose to possess and distribute child pornography materials, knowing that the production of these materials involved the sexual exploitation of minor victims.”
The prosecution also alluded to a prior incident involving a victim whose statement was kept under seal.
“Defendant engaged in several inappropriate and sexualized gestures, behaviors, and
remarks to and toward a particular underage girl in his community,” Liu wrote, without releasing further details.
The defense filing indicates the incident happened in 2008. Blecka apologized to the 13-year-old girl and her family and sought counseling, and there is no indication he was prosecuted. The allegations resurfaced after Blecka’s arrest in the porn case, the filing said.
Blecka was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup.
