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February 26, 2010

Foxy Gagnon pleads guilty to child-porn charge

By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG

PLATTSBURGH — Local media personality Raymond “Foxy” Gagnon has admitted to receiving child porn and will get at least five years behind bars.

The 61-year-old appeared in an Albany courtroom Friday morning and pleaded guilty to one of the two original charges against him.

Federal prosecutors said that charge — receipt of child pornography — was the higher count in the indictment against him and will yield a mandatory minimum sentence of at least five years.

Gagnon is due back in court June 28 for sentencing, which, prosecutors said, will likely be increased due to the criminal factors in the case, including the age of the children in the photos.

During the proceeding Friday, Judge Gary Sharpe surprised the defense by seeking to immediately incarcerate Gagnon pending his sentencing.

But the judge later approved a defense request that the former teacher surrender himself on March 8. Gagnon will remain free on conditions, including counseling, until then.

Authorities began investigating Gagnon following the arrest of international child-porn distributor Sergio Marzola in 2006.

During that investigation, Gagnon was found to have purchased one pornographic image from an illegal Web site that Marzola operated. That image reportedly involved a teenage girl who was shown being violated by the Italian pornographer.

Gagnon later cooperated with authorities and admitted that he possessed the illegal material to view for his personal gratification.

Officials said a search of Gagnon’s computer ultimately revealed 300 images involving the sexual performances of children, including one that showed a young girl between the ages of 6 and 8 being victimized by an adult male.

Those images are believed to have been downloaded from Web sites or sent to him by others.

Gagnon retired from teaching for the Plattsburgh City School District in 2005 and occasionally served as a substitute teacher. He had not taught for the district for some time before his June 2009 arrest.

Gagnon was also well known in the community for taping events for broadcast on Charter Cable access television and had written a popular blog called “On the Sly” for the Press-Republican.

When contacted by the Press-Republican this week, Gagnon said he would make a statement once the case is fully resolved.



E-mail Andrea VanValkenburg at:

avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com

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