Karate instructor held on child porn charges

A Lincoln man who taught martial arts to children in East Nicolaus admitted taping naked students in a locker room, according to a federal criminal complaint.

The FBI arrested Justin Daniel Graham, 29, on Jan. 19 on suspicion of distributing child pornography. He was being held Monday in the Sacramento County Jail.

Graham operated Plumas Lake Martial Arts, which held Kenpo Karate classes for children ages 4 and up at the South Sutter Recreation Association at 2430 Palm St. in East Nicolaus.

"Graham confessed that he has several videos that he recorded of the students in his martial arts class changing clothes with both naked fronts and backs," according to the complaint.

"Graham also told agents that one time he used his Blackberry phone to record a session where he personally helped his students change clothes and put on their cups," the complaint said.

The complaint does not indicate the location of the locker room. He also held classes in Sacramento, according to his Strategic Martial Arts website.

"All that we can say at this point in the investigation is that Graham stated that he recorded students. We cannot confirm that that is true or where it happened," said Lauren Horwood, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento.

Horwood urged anyone with information helpful to the investigation to call the FBI at 916-481-9110 and ask for the duty officer.

Graham held classes for children ages 4-6 and 7-14, as well as for adults. In a July 10 posting on plumaslakelife.com, he wrote he had 25 students.

"Graham states that his collection of child pornography ranged in age, but all photos were of children and his preferential group was boys starting at 10 years old," the complaint said.

Graham said he first looked at child pornography when he was 15 and had been downloading and distributing it for at least 10 years, the complaint said.

Comment was not available from the South Sutter Recreation Association.

CONTACT reporter Rob Young at 749-4710.