A 20-year-old Albany man who spent time working at several elementary school afterschool programs and volunteered at the William K. Sanford Library was arrested on child pornography charges on Thursday, May 3.
Brian K. Oatman-Gaitan of 6 Crammond St. in Albany was charged with one count of possessing a sexual performance by a child, a felony, and was remanded to Albany County Jail without bail, according to Colonie police.
The arrest stems from a monthlong investigation carried out by Colonie police, Albany County District Attorney’s Office and New York State Police Computer Crimes Unit, which culminated in the execution of a search warrant at Oatman-Gaitan’s residence Thursday. Police said several computers and media storage devices were recovered that contained child pornography and the devices are in the process of being examined.
Lt. Robert Winn of the Colonie Police Department said it would take time for the Computer Crimes Unit to comb through the seized devices but said they contained “quite a large quantity” of both video and still photo child pornography.
Winn said the police department was tipped off by an acquaintance of Oatman-Gaitman who had conversations and online contact with him that referenced child pornography images.
“That person became concerned, notified our agency, as a result of that we began an investigation,” said Winn.
Winn said the subjects in the images were of elementary school age but so far none of the children appear to be local.
“If we discover images of local people the investigation will shift to identify them but all the stuff we’ve seen so far has been downloaded from the internet; mostly overseas, commercially produced,” said Winn.
Oatman-Gaitan was employed by the Colonie Youth Center where he worked at afterschool programs at Southgate School, Loudonville School and Saddlewood School. He was fired in January for reason not related to the investigation, said police. He also volunteered at the library during anime classes. Police said the investigation revealed Oatman-Gaitan “may have surreptitiously photographed children” while on the job but stressed that it was in a “non-criminal manner” and “there is no information to suggest that (he) had any inappropriate physical contact with any victims.”
Still, police are urging parents to speak with their children and report any suspicious or illegal contact Oatman-Gaitan may have had with their children.
“We’re urging parents to have that … good touch bad touch conversation. Also to remind kids that even adults in positions of authority and trust, if they ask a child to do something they’re not comfortable with or feel is inappropriate it’s OK to say ‘no’, it’s OK to tell another parent, your own parent, the police,” said Winn.
According to an email blast sent to parents in the South Colonie School District, Oatman-Gaitan was employed for 10 months during a period that included April 2011 through June 2011 and September 2011 through January 2012. The district said Oatman-Gaitan only worked with children in the afterschool program, which is about 56 students.
“The CYC informs us that Mr. Oatman had undergone fingerprinting, reference checks and provided a criminal history statement as well as being cleared to work with children through the Statewide Central Register Database prior to employment,” read the email.
Winn said his department has received calls from “a lot of concerned parents” but nothing of a criminal nature.
Anyone who believes that they or their children have had suspicious or illegal contact with Oatman-Gaitman are being urged to call Colonie investigators at 783-2754.
