As we noted last December, Emile Mooser, former chef-owner of Emile’s in San Jose, was arrested in an FBI sting after purchasing and downloading images of nude girls believed to be under the age of twelve. Mooser pleaded no contest and has refused to comment on the case, and Friday he was sentenced to ten months in jail and three years probation. Mooser, 77, recently underwent triple-bypass surgery, and the judge is permitting him to serve his jail time under house arrest, with an electronic monitor. He will also have to register as a sex offender.
Says Mooser’s attorney, Sam Polverino, argued for even lighter sentencing, saying that in Mooser’s 77 years he had no other improper contact with children or had been known to possess child pornography. Polverino said further that Mooser had suffered “many slings and arrows,” because of the publicity from this case. “He has been shunned by many people who wrongly perceive him as an ogre. The effect on his family has been devastating.”
There was further implication in the case that Mooser had become involved in charity work at an orphanage in Cambodia in 2008 in order to be closer to children for his own gratification, but a friend who participated in that charity work vehemently denied this.
Celebrated San Jose chef sentenced to jail for child pornography [Mercury News]
Earlier: San Jose Chef Emile Mooser to Face Three Years for Child Porn [Grub Street]
