2 arrested in S.F. child porn investigations
Two men, including a practicing attorney, were arrested in San Francisco on unrelated child pornography charges, officials said Tuesday.
Michael Connell, 66, an attorney, and Gilbert Francisco, 41, both of San Francisco, were booked at the San Francisco County Jail within a week of each other, police said.
Investigators executed a search warrant on Dec. 21 at Connell’s residence on the 1700 block of 23rd Avenue, according to the San Francisco Police Department.
During the search, officers seized a laptop that had child pornography images and videos on it, police said.
The police department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit began investigating Connell in August after learning he was using a chat messenger application to trade child pornography, police said.
He is facing charges for possession and distribution of child pornography.
Connell is a licensed attorney who practices law out of his home. He attended the University of San Francisco School of Law, where he graduated in 1976, according to his LinkedIn page. He graduated from UC Berkeley in 1973 with
a degree in political science and government.
Investigators served a search warrant on Dec. 14 at Francisco’s home on the 100 block of Curtis Street and discovered a computer that had thousands of images and videos depicting child pornography, police said.
The police department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit began investigating Francisco in November.
Francisco was arrested for possessing more than 600 files of child pornography and three counts of distribution of child pornography, police said.