LOS ANGELES
A former employee of the Orange Unified School District was sentenced today to six years in federal prison for distributing child pornography, officials stated.
Mike Barry Brior sent images and video files of explicit sexual conduct involving young children via the Kik instant messaging application.
Brior, 43, of Riverside, was an 18-year employee of the school district, where he worked for a time directly with children as a teacher’s assistant, according to authorities.
U.S. District Judge George H. Wu. required Brior to register as a sex offender. Judge Wu also ordered Brior to pay $12,000 in restitution.
Brior pleaded guilty in November to one count of distribution of child pornography.
According to court documents, Brior sent at least 10 video files to two message groups in less than three weeks in 2018, and prosecutors believe at least some of these uploads occurred while he was at school during work hours.
The sentencing memorandum filed by prosecutors summarizes the content of the videos and notes that the victims were both boys and girls, some of them appearing to be as young as 3.
Citing a U.S. Senate report in the sentencing memorandum, prosecutors wrote that Brior “was actively expanding the marketplace for child pornography by regularly putting it in the hands of others. The marketplace for child pornography incentivizes other individuals to produce such content and harms some of the most vulnerable members of society: children.”
This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eli A. Alcaraz of the Riverside Branch Office.