Feds: School told of porn, teacher's role

From the Union Leader;

Feds: School told of porn, teacher's role

By TRENT SPINER
Union Leader Correspondent
Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009

BRENTWOOD – Hours after admitting to federal agents he had child pornography on his home computer, Scott Bautti went to work at Timberlane Middle School, just as he had for the last 19 years.

For the next 14 months -- from February 2008 until being indicted by a grand jury in April -- Buatti continued teaching physical education and coaching both girls' and boys' sports teams after school. All along, school district officials knew of the investigation but took no action against Buatti, newly released court records show.

Buatti, 43, was netted alongside 5,000 other paying subscribers nationwide who bought access to 18 separate child pornography Web sites over a two-year period, court records show. An investigation conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement linked his credit card and e-mail address to a commercial child pornography Web site known as the "Home Collection,"prosecutors allege.

ICE Senior Special Agents Thomas Pugliese and Philip Bleezarde confronted Buatti with the evidence at his Newton home on Feb. 25, 2008. Agents alleged Buatti had been buying child porn since at least Dec. 2, 2006, when he paid $79.95 for access, court records show.

It was then he admitted to having about a dozen images and videos stored on his home computer depicting children as young as 8 or 9, according to court records. He told investigators how he used two e-mail addresses to access both free and paid child porn sites, though he did not recall the names of any specific sites.

At the time of his questioning, Buatti said he had viewed the images within the last week and had bought access within the last month. But, problems with viruses had been preventing him from downloading new pornography for the last three weeks, he told authorities, court records show.

Bleezarde asked to see the images, but Buatti balked at the request.

"(Buatti) stated he was afraid we would find something that he had downloaded by mistake that would get him into trouble,"Bleezarde wrote.

The next morning, local police sought a judge's permission to seize records and various computer storage devices from the home where Buatti lived alone.

Detectives from the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, based at Portsmouth Police Department, investigated the case throughout the early part of this year and presented to a Rockingham County grand jury in April.

Bleezarde's report was made public after defense attorney Mark Sisti asked a judge to ban all evidence from the search, claiming it was done illegally. Superior Court Justice Tina L. Nadeau denied the motion.

Buatti was indicted on a total of 10 Class B felonies, each with a maximum penalty of 3 1/2 to seven years in state prison. Indictments alleged he had eight video files of naked girls and two digital photographs of children engaged in sexual acts.

He waived a formal reading of the charges in Superior Court and was released on $10,000 personal recognizance bail.

On the day his indictments were unsealed, Buatti was still teaching inside the middle school's gym. In an April interview, Timberlane Regional School District Superintendent Richard A. La Salle said he called Buatti into the office immediately after becoming aware of the charges and placed him on administrative leave.

La Salle, in multiple interviews with the media after Buatti's indictment, told some reporters he first heard of the charges from police, while he told others he first heard from reporters.

In their report, federal authorities contradict his version of events. They allege the school district was made aware of the investigation at the very start, court records show.

La Salle and Buatti did not return phone or e-mail messages seeking comment yesterday.

County Attorney James M. Reams said it does not appear any local children were involved, though an investigation is ongoing.