Buena Park School Board President Arraigned On Child Porn Charges

SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) – The president of the Buena Park School District Board was arraigned Friday on child pornography charges.

Dennis Brian Chambers, 50, was arrested Wednesday on the front lawn of his Buena Park home by Fontana police. Officers searching the home found an electronic storage device containing thousands of child pornographic videos and images, police said.

Family members and friends were in attendance as Chambers appeared before a judge in Orange County Superior Court on one felony count each of possession and control of child pornography and distribution of child pornography. He also faces a sentencing enhancement allegation for child pornography containing more than 600 images and ten or more images involving a prepubescent minor.

"When he was taken in he had possession of several hundred images of both pre-pubescent children as well as infants," said Michelle Van Der Linden, the spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

There is no evidence that any of the district's 5,900 children were victims of the pornography that was allegedly distributed over the internet.

Authorities say the department's Internet Crimes Against Task Force detectives have spent the past six months working with its counterparts at the Flathead County Sheriff's Department in Montana to root out people distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Chambers, a father and grandfather, has twice been elected to the school board. He became president last December. His term was scheduled to run through 2018.

His colleagues held a closed-door session Thursday night to discuss potential legal action surrounding this case. Buena Park School Superintendent Greg Magnuson told CBS2 he is angry over the allegations.

Chambers did not enter a plea Friday, but remains in jail. The prosecutor indicated he wanted to request that Chambers' bail be doubled from $250,000 to $500,000.

He will be back in court May 5.