Md. Gymnastics Coach Charged With Child Porn Possession In Court

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A Howard County gymnastics coach arrested and charged with child pornography possession and distribution last month is in court today.

According to Department of Justice documents released Friday, investigators executed a state search warrant at 56-year-old Paul Bollinger's Baltimore County residence on May 25 and seized a desktop computer, hard drives and other digital media which contained at least 47,130 images and videos of child pornography, child modeling and child erotica.

Next to Bollinger's bed, detectives say they found over 100 pages of handwritten stories about "P" having sex with young children.

"This is without a doubt, the most disturbing, sick thing I have ever seen," Cpl. John Wachter with the Baltimore County Police Department told WJZ's Rick Ritter.

The search came after an undercover Baltimore County Police detective downloaded at least 10 movie files from Bollinger's IP address that contained child pornography on May 15.

"The things that raise concerns in this case are the defendant's role in community, access to children, stories allegedly found in his home and the volume of child pornography," said U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein.

Bollinger, who coached at Top Flight Gymnastics in Columbia but denies any inappropriate contact, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for possessing child pornography; and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for distributing child pornography.

"When we find a defendant who is in a business where they have opportunity to be around children, that raises our suspicion," Rosenstein said. "The parents need to ask because there certainly is a risk."

An initial appearance is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

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