Marine to plead guilty in child porn case

By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 11, 2008 11:50:12 EDT

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — A San Diego-based Marine will plead guilty in federal court to charges of possessing child pornography he obtained by e-mail.

According to papers filed Tuesday with the U.S. District Court’s Southern District, Daniel Joseph Tarchala will plead guilty in the case prompted by an investigation by the FBI’s “cyber squad.”

Tarchala, 26, is scheduled to appear May 27 before District Court Judge Marilyn Huff at San Diego’s downtown courthouse.

Tarchala was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and living in nearby El Cajon, Calif., when FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents first questioned him in October about child pornography he allegedly received from a Philadelphia-area man being investigated by the FBI, according to court documents. He is still on active duty with Marine Aircraft Group 11, but is “being processed out” of the Marine Corps, according to a Miramar spokesman. His rank was not immediately available.

Agents said they tracked Tarchala through his AOL e-mail account, with information the Internet company provided under subpoena for the user name “tarchusmc81,” which the FBI contends was the instant message account allegedly used to send the Philadelphia man pornographic photos and videos.

According to the federal complaint filed in court, Tarchala first denied any involvement but later “began to cooperate and advised that he has in fact sent and received e-mails containing child pornography” through his AOL account. A forensic search of a computer at his apartment found 991 images of child pornography, including 166 photographs and five videos, and the images include children under age 10 engaged in sexually explicit acts, the complaint states.

“Tarchala said it was stupid and that the reason that he looked at child pornography was because it was ‘taboo.’ He has been sending and receiving images/videos of child pornography for the last one-and-a-half to two years,” an FBI special agent wrote in the complaint.

Tarchala was arrested Jan. 28 and later released on $15,000 bond. He could face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and mandatory registration as a sex offender.