A Chula Vista man who once served as a volunteer hockey coach has been charged in federal court on two counts of sharing and possession of child pornography on the Internet.
Gregory Stewart Eagles, 54, was originally charged in Chula Vista Superior Court on Oct. 7, 2013, but that case was dismissed Jan. 30 after he was charged Jan. 3 in U.S. District Court. He is no longer affiliated with the hockey program.
Eagles has pleaded not guilty to both charges and remains free on $75,000 bond that was posted on Jan. 23. A magistrate ordered him to surrender his passport, not use a cell phone with Internet capabilities and not access any social networking websites.
Eagles needs to use a computer for work, and a magistrate ordered that he only use a computer that has a software monitoring program. He also must abide by a 9 p.m. curfew, according to court records.
The federal charges allege he transported digital and computer images in interstate commerce and foreign commerce.
The charges are alleged to be more appropriately addressed in federal vs. state court.
The investigation was initially started on a man in another state who had child porn on his computer that contained two files which allegedly came from Eagles sharing it with him. It reportedly depicts a nude girl who is around 12 to 14 years old engaging in a sexual act.
Federal authorities came across Yahoo instant messenger chat logs on Eagles’ e-mail account by someone who claimed to be a minor and sexually active with a youth coach. Eagles is not charged with molesting anyone and a document suggested he may have posed as a teenage girl online to chat with other males.
A California state search warrant was served on his residence on Sept. 30 and a thumb drive plugged into his bedroom computer was seized. It contained images of child pornography that depicted minors engaging in sexual acts, according to the charges.
His attorney could not be reached for comment.
