Former teacher receives six-year sentence in child molestation case
A former teacher at a San Mateo private school convicted of dressing up young children and then photographing them for his sexual purposes was sentenced Friday to six years in state prison, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
Anthony Rocco Satriano, 33, of South San Francisco pleaded no contest in December to five felony counts, including child molestation, attempted child molestation and three counts of using a minor for sex acts, according to prosecutors.
Satriano worked with children between the ages of 5 and 8 in the preschool and after-school care programs at St. Matthew’s Episcopal School in San Mateo. Prosecutors found hundreds of photographs in Satriano’s phone, including several images focused on the girls’ private areas.
He must register as a sex offender for life.
“We alleged he used minors to pose for photographs for his sexual purposes,” San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe previously told this newspaper.
Satriano asked girls in the preschool and after-care program to put on certain clothing and then posed them in such a way he found provocative, Wagstaffe said. Prosecutors allege Satriano took photos of five girls, ages 5 to 8, during one-on-one interaction with them.
Satriano is not accused of touching the girls.
Satriano’s attorney, Steven Chase, previously told this newspaper his client should serve time in county jail, not prison. Chase argued that Satriano has never been in trouble, had no prior complaints against him during his employment working with kids and, in this case, “never touched these children in a lewd manner.”
“His actions had to do with what was lewd to him,” Chase said in December. “The children were oblivious to what was going on. The intrusion to the children was very slight.”
When he was arrested in April, police found images of the girls on Satriano’s cellphone, Wagstaffe said. Some of the girls were posed in “lewd positions,” according to prosecutors.
Police became aware of the allegations on April 6 after an 8-year-old girl told her parents what Satriano asked her to do, Wagstaffe said.
Late last year, prosecutors attempted to dismiss the judge handling the case for fear he would hand out a lenient sentence. But those fears were erased when Judge Donald Ayoob offered Satriano a prison term ranging from three years and eight months to eight years as part of a plea agreement.
Parents of the five girls who were victims in the case addressed Ayoob before the sentencing and detailed the harm that was done to their children, prosecutors said. At the hearing Satriano apologized for his conduct, Wagstaffe said.