Jul 21, 2008 12:03 pm US/Pacific
Ex-Marin School Admin. Gets Jail On Porn Charge
SANTA ROSA (BCN) ―
A former superintendent of the Lagunitas School District in Marin County was sentenced in Sonoma County Superior Court Monday to six months in the county jail for possession of child pornography.
Judge Lawrence Antolini allowed Craig Benedict Lee to apply for electronic home confinement and to turn himself in to the jail on Oct. 21 if that request is rejected.
Lee, who will turn 55 Wednesday, was charged with 13 felony counts of possession of obscene matter depicting minors engaged in sex acts.
Those were combined into one count, to which Lee pleaded no contest in March. Charges of intimidating a witness and spousal battery were dismissed.
Petaluma police arrested Lee on April 10, 2007 after his girlfriend reported he assaulted her at their Aspen Way home. Police said they found the computer-generated pornographic photos in a box in the garage at the home.
Defense attorney Jamie Thistlethwaite told the court Lee downloaded and printed the photos between 1999 and 2003 and put them in storage. She said most of the images were adult pornography. Lee last looked at the photos in 2004, Thistlethwaite said, and he has not been able to explain why he kept the photos and is under going counseling to understand why.
Lee's girlfriend, referred to as Jane Doe, asked Antolini to keep Lee out of jail. She said they have a 5-month-old daughter and that Lee is supportive and is no threat to her or her other daughter.
She said she didn't know how to react when she found the pornographic photos and doesn't believe his behavior was appropriate, but she said she trusts Lee and supports his counseling efforts to explain his behavior. Lee and his family have moved further north in the state.
Deputy District Attorney Marianna Green said Lee kept the photos despite the risk to his career as a school superintendent.
"The attraction to it was that strong," Green said. She said every time Lee looked at the photos he in essence was abusing the children.
Lee told Antolini he accepts full responsibility and is extremely sorry for his behavior.
"I understand the district attorney when she says they are harmful to children. It won't ever happen again," Lee said.
Antolini said he believes Lee is remorseful but that he is troubled that Lee saved the photos. He said keeping them for several years is not normal conduct.
"That is perverted conduct. You have to accept that. There is no excuse for revisiting those images," Antolini said.
Lee was hired by the Lagunitas School District on July 1, 2006 and is a former teacher and principal at the Igo-Ono Elementary School near Redding. He must now register as a convicted sex offender.
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