Plainville Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography

A  Plainville man accused of taking sexually explicit photographs of a minor pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Hartford to manufacturing child pornography.

Jonathan Michael Zahra, 27, faces a mandatory minimum prison term of 15 years.

Zahra was a technology assistant at a Plainville Middle School and a member of the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program when he was identified during an international investigation of child pornography as "possibly grooming minors and having engaged in sexual contact with minors," according to a press release from David B. Fein, U.S. attorney for Connecticut, and Bruce M. Foucart, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations office in Boston.

After receiving information from that investigation, Plainville police executed a search warrant at Zahra's home on March 12, 2009, and seized computer-related components and media, the release said.  Forensic analysis disclosed photographs of a minor victim engaged in sexually explicit contact in Zahra's home, according to the release.

“I want to thank the New Britain State’s Attorney’s Office and the Plainville Police Department for their critical assistance and cooperation during the course of this investigation, which has helped to remove a child sexual predator from the community for a long period of time,” Fein said in the release.