Former TRMS teacher guilty of porn charges

From the Eagle Tribune

April 15, 2011
Former teacher guilty of porn charges

By Jillian Jorgensen jjorgensen@eagletribune.com The Eagle Tribune Fri Apr 15, 2011, 12:14 AM EDT

BRENTWOOD — A jury deliberated just three hours before finding Scott Buatti guilty on 20 child pornography-related charges.

Family members and friends gasped and cried as a jury foreman said the jury had reached the same conclusion for each of the 10 charges of possession of child pornography and 10 charges of attempting to posses child pornography: guilty.

Buatti, 44, a former Timberlane Regional Middle School gym teacher and coach, shook his head as the verdict was read. The Newton resident will remain free on bail until he is sentenced sometime in the next few months.

As defense attorney Mark Sisti walked him out of the courtroom, Buatti was embraced by his father, who told him he loved him.

About 20 family members and friends were in court to support Buatti. As they streamed out of court, one woman offered a firm "No," when asked if they had any comment.

Sisti and assistant county attorney Jerome Blanchard provided starkly different visions of Buatti throughout the four-day trial.

"He's a novice computer user who browses around and hits adult sites and gets himself in a jam," Sisti said in his closing arguments. "There's no question about that."

The defense argued that Buatti did not knowingly download or look at the eight videos and two images he is charged with having on his computers. The videos, shown in court, include the lewd display of a young girl's genitals. The pictures were of a young girl engaged in a sex act.

Buatti testified Wednesday that he had viruses on his computer and thought they may have downloaded the illegal material. He also said he may have seen child pornography pop up while surfing for adult pornography, but did not look at it.

But Blanchard said Buatti actively sought out the content — paying to belong a website that provided it — and told federal agents that he had paid for, seen and saved child pornography.

"Some other dude did it to him. That's the defense — some other dude did it," Blanchard said. "This is the one they're attempting to run with — seriously, a mysterious program."

While Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents testified that Buatti told them he had images of grade school-aged children that "might" be considered child pornography on his computer, Buatti denied making those statements.

Blanchard asked jurors who was more credible — the man on trial or the law enforcement agents.

Buatti came to the attention of ICE agents because he was on a list of paid users for a site identified as containing child pornography, one of 18 discovered in an international investigation called "Operation Flicker." He registered with his "scottbuatti@hotmail.com" email address, and used his own Newton address when paying $79.95 to join the site.

But Buatti said he would never have paid for anything that advertised child pornography. Sisti said nothing about children was mentioned in the website's name. The site warned of "adult" content and said the models were over 18. But Blanchard said it was illogical to think a website would pull a "bait and switch" with child pornography.

"If you had a legitimate adult pornography site with adult pornography and you wanted people to subscribe to it, but then when you subscribe to it, you get a child porn?" Blanchard said. "What the hell? How illogical is that?"

Sisti said Buatti never tried to hide his tracks. He wasn't purposely doing anything illegal, Sisti claimed, calling him a "poor sucker that got some junk on his computer."

"Was he stupid wandering down those paths? Yeah. Was he trying to obtain it? No." Sisti said. "Is it on his computer? Yeah. Did he want it there? No. Did he try to possess it? Absolutely not."

He asked the jury to "dig deep" in their souls and ask if they ever had something on their computer they didn't want there. And, he asked, what they would do if a federal agent or police officer knocked on their doors about it.

But Blanchard sharply criticized the idea that child pornography just appears on computers.

"I have junk on my computer," he said. "I don't have any child pornography on my computer. I'm 100 percent sure of that."

He attacked the defense's computer expert, Judy Gosselin, for saying most computers contain child pornography.

"Seriously? Does she think we're that dumb?" Blanchard said. "There's child porn on almost every computer? Are you serious? Are you for real?"

Buatti had been surfing sites like "Sin 3D Incest," "Premium Child Porn" and "Lolita Portal" the same day agents first visited him, Blanchard said.

Buatti deleted the videos and images of child pornography after police first visited, Blanchard said, but before they got a search warrant for his computer.

Buatti claimed he ran a virus scan program after the agents visited him, and the program deleted the files.

But Blanchard said Buatti must have had a "very special" program on his computer.

"It's so special that it can find those that are interested in child pornography, those who subscribe to child pornography websites, and then download child pornography," Blanchard said. "And then get rid of it a year later, all without the computer owner's knowledge."

"Where do you get that?" Blanchard asked. "At Best Buy?"

If Buatti were guilty, Sisti said, he would have gotten rid of his computer, the way a murderer ditches a gun or a bloody knife.

He said Buatti continued to teach for months, after 19 years with a spotless record and not one allegation of inappropriate contact with children. He was put on administrative leave in April 2009, after his indictment.