Name: Gino J. Gallo
Case: United States v. Gallo No. 00-0560
Date Of Appeal: April 20, 2001
Plea: Not Guilty
Charges: possessing child pornography, receiving, advertising, placing on the internet child pornography
Military Branch: U.S. Air Force
Listed In National Sex Offenders Registry? NO
Contrary to his pleas, appellant was convicted of dereliction of duty, in violation of Article 92, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC § 892, and advertising, transporting, receiving, possessing, and placing on the Internet child pornography, in violation of 18 USC §§ 2251(c), 2252(a)(1), (2), and (4), and 1462(a). The convening authority approved the sentence of a dishonorable discharge, 42 months’ confinement, total forfeitures, and reduction to the lowest enlisted grade. The Court of Criminal Appeals set aside the finding of guilty to possession of child pornography, affirmed the remaining findings, and reassessed and affirmed the sentence as approved by the convening authority. 53 MJ 556 (2000).
Because of a decline in appellant’s work performance, in mid-July 1996, appellant’s supervisor, Master Sergeant Schipani, examined his work station. On his computer, she found a number of sexually explicit images and subsequently issued a letter of reprimand for the misuse of a government computer.
On October 22, 1996, a computer security monitor, Staff Sergeant Martin, received information from an Internet service provider that a person with a certain Internet Protocol (IP) address was "trading child pornography." Sergeant Martin traced the IP address to appellant’s government-issued, work-station computer. He then provided this information to the Office of Special Investigations (OSI).
The next day, Special Agent Schwartz of the OSI, utilizing the information provided by Sergeant Martin, obtained a search warrant to seize a "mirror image" of a hard disk from appellant’s government computer. That evening, Special Agents Schwartz and Merkel executed the warrant and made a copy of appellant’s hard drive on his government-issued computer. An analysis of this disk revealed 262 graphic images of children "in various sexual encounters, along with some text files." This search revealed that at least the text files had been viewed from or transferred to computer diskettes.
About 2 weeks later, Special Agent Schwartz interviewed Master Sergeant Schipani and asked if appellant had a computer at home. Some time later, without advising appellant of his rights, Master Sergeant Schipani asked appellant if he had a home computer, and he said he did. When the agents received this information, they contacted Mr. Putnoky, who sought the search warrant. At that time, Mr. Putnoky had been a United States Customs Service agent for 26 years. Mr. Putnoky had participated in numerous child pornography investigations. He had spent the previous 3½ years in an undercover capacity for the Customs Service, which plays a lead role in investigating child pornography that enters the United States through the mail or the Internet. "Commercially produced child pornography historically has been and continues to be a product of foreign distributors...." (From Mr. Putnoky’s affidavit, infra). Mr. Putnoky prepared an affidavit and submitted it to a federal magistrate judge, who then issued a search warrant for appellant’s residence and his personal computer.
On October 23, 1996, the United States Air Force, Office of Special Investigations (OSI), Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama, commenced an investigation into the possible trafficking of child pornography over the computer internet systems. This investigation involved the soliciting and advertising of child pornography on the DALnet IRC network by Gino GALLO. A systems administrator associated with the DALnet IRC discovered computer traffic indicating the trading of child pornography.
Tracy REED, DALnet systems administrator located at San Diego, California, researched the source of the solicitations/advertisements and identified Gino GALLO’s Internet Protocol (IP) address (143.158.38.2) as the source of the solicitation/advertisement. This Internet Protocol (IP) address is assigned to the computer that subject GALLO operates in room 122, building 856, which is located at Maxwell Air Force Base, Gunter Annex, Montgomery, Alabama. Mr. REED notified officials in the United States Air Force of his findings.
Approximately 262 apparent child pornography photographs" were found on appellant’s work computer
The decision of the United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals is affirmed.
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Sexual Offender
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An Unofficial Site
Of United States Military
Sexual Offender
Conviction Records
Not Associated With The U.S. Military Or Government
Gino J. Gallo
Airman First Class U.S. Air Force
Convicted Sex Offender
Possession Advertising Placing On The Internet Of Child Pornography
