Mpls. Man Indicted On Child Porn Charges

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A Minneapolis man has been indicted in a federal court for distributing and possessing child pornography.

Fifty-year-old Robert Andrew Gozola was charged last Friday on six counts of distribution of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography.

According the U.S. Attorney General's Office, the indictment alleges that Gozola distributed visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct on the internet between Oct. 6, 2011 and Jan. 6, 2012.

Also, images and videos were found on Gozola's computer on Jan. 19, 2012, during which his computer was seized during the execution of the state search warrant of his residence.

The images and videos also included sadistic or masochistic material.

If convicted, Gozola faces a possible maximum penalty of 40 years in prison on each distribution count, with a mandatory penalty of 15 years in prison.

He also faces a possible maximum penalty of 20 years, with a mandatory penalty of ten years on the possession count.

All sentences will be determined by a federal district court judge.

His case, which is a result of an investigation by the Minnesota Cybercrime Task Force, is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Calhoun-Lopez.

A 2008 study, published in the Journal of Family Violence, found that up to 80 percent of federal inmates incarcerated for possession, receipt, or distribution of child pornography also admitted to hands-on sexual abuse of children, ranging from touching to rape.