Former Head of a City Commission Gets 7 Years for Kiddie Porn

The head of a city commission who resigned after FBI agents found a massive kiddie porn stash at his home was sentenced Monday to seven years in federal prison for distributing the images over the Internet.

Albert N. Abrams, 64, of Tarzana, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner to pay a $5,000 fine, undergo lifetime supervision after he leaves prison and register as a sex offender.

After the sentence was imposed, Abrams, who had been free on bond under electronic monitoring, was immediately taken into custody.

Klausner said what Abrams did "is not a victimless crime. It's a very serious crime."

Abrams, who was accompanied to court by friends and family members, told the judge he was "truly sorry ... I never intended to harm anyone."

Abrams pleaded guilty in September in Los Angeles federal court to a felony count of distribution of child pornography he received over the Internet. In a plea agreement, Abrams acknowledged collecting more than 600 images of child pornography over the course of more than 10 years.

• See KCBS2 meet former Commissioner Al Abrams on his way to court.

The collection contained images of children under 12, including infants, "engaging in sexually explicit conduct" and portraying "sadistic or masochistic" activity, according to the agreement.

"Nobody's perfect," defense attorney Marilyn Bednarski said in her argument for a five-year prison sentence. "For his imperfection, he's paying a very high price."

The lawyer said Abrams had "struggled with this problem for years. He didn't even recognize the depth of his problem."

U.S. Attorney Lana Morton-Owens told the court that Abrams "disseminated thousands of pictures." He was so prolific, she said, three separate FBI offices independently caught him distributing and receiving illegal images.

Morton-Owens said the day Abrams was arrested, he was in the process of downloading a 155-page "how-to" guide describing "what to do with a child."

Abrams was charged in February in an eight-count indictment that accused him of distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography.

Abrams resigned in August 2011 as president of the seven-member Board of Neighborhood Commissioners, which oversees the neighborhood councils that provide a link between local communities and Los Angeles City Hall. However, his photograph and biography still remain on the board's website.

Abrams, who had served on the board since 2008, owned a public relations firm and worked on ballot measures in Agoura Hills, Westlake Village and Walnut Creek.

According to an affidavit filed in support of a search warrant, federal authorities looking into a peer-to-peer file-sharing network were able to download more than 150 videos and images depicting child porn from a computer at Abrams' house.

After his house was searched in 2011, he told a TV station that a now-excised growth on his spine left him with a split personality that compelled him to do what normally would have been out of character.

His attorney argued that the media hounded him into commenting on his case, but Morton-Owens countered that Abrams "brought the press on himself," and could have just said "no comment" when confronted by reporters.