Former Local Restaurateur Sentenced In Child Porn Case

HARTFORD — The former owner of a Dodgingtown restaurant was sentenced August 6 in US District Court to two years in prison, to be followed by ten years of probation for downloading numerous images and videos of child pornography from the Internet.

Louis Graziani, 52, of Roxbury was sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Robert N. Chatigny. Last November, Graziani had pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.

Graziani formerly owned George’s Pizza and Restaurant at 1 Dodgingtown Road in Dodgingtown. The eatery now at that location does business under a different name and with new ownership.

The case stems from a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation that identified websites, e-mail addresses and credit card processing companies used by people who operated illegal child pornography websites and granted others access to those websites for a fee.

According to documents filed with the court and statements made in court, in approximately December 2005, agents began intercepting communications occurring with an e-mail account of one such illegal website. Based on these court-authorized interceptions, Graziani was identified as a person who had subscribed to, and was granted access to, the child pornography website, according to a statement from the US Attorney’s office.

In October 2006, a search warrant was obtained and executed at Graziani’s restaurant. A forensic examination of Graziani’s computer taken from the restaurant revealed more than 1,000 images and videos of child pornography.

Upon his release from prison, Graziani will be required to register as a sex offender. As a special condition of his ten-year probation, the US Probation Office is authorized to monitor Graziani’s computer use and conduct random searches of his residence, automobile, and workplace. Also, Graziani must not have any unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18.