BULLHEAD CITY – A Bullhead City man faces decades behind bars following conviction at his child pornography trial in Kingman. The Mohave County Superior Court jury deliberated about one-half hour Tuesday before finding Michael Fattouch, 56, guilty of all eight counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
The vast majority of child porn case defendants in Mohave County earn prison terms of five years or more by entering plea agreements, given greater concern and fear of trial convictions triggering much lengthier prison sentences mandated under Arizona law. Fattouch rolled the dice, went to trial and lost.
The crux of his defense was a claim that child porn sometimes “popped up” uninvited, and by accident, during his admitted consumption of adult porn on line, and that he quickly deleted the material he knew was illegal to possess.
“He did exactly what we want people to do. He deleted it,” said Legal Defender Ron Gilleo, who further argued that his client never saved material to access from his personal computer. “If somebody’s into this crap, they would have a thumb drive.”
Deputy county attorney Karolina Czaplinska countered that the defendant’s own admissions indicated incriminating knowledge and familiarity regarding child porn and that Fattouch didn’t simply stumble upon the material.
“Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence and three times is a pattern,” Caplinska said, noting that forensic analysis revealed that 24 child porn videos were download to Fattouch’s home computer. “24 times is not an ‘accident’. The evidence has shown that the defendant sought out, downloaded and viewed child pornography.”
Fattouch is convicted of eight counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. Czaplinska said he faces an 80-136-year prison term when sentenced April 2 by Judge Doug Camacho.
Dave Hawkins
