San Antonio Man Sentenced to 70 Months in Federal Prison on Child Pornography Charges

In San Antonio today, 40-year-old former Homeland Security Investigations agent Richard Nikolai Gratkowski was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison on child pornography charges, announced U.S. Attorney John F. Bash and FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs, San Antonio Division.

In addition to the prison term, Senior U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra ordered that Gratkowski pay $35,000 restitution to seven victims, pay a $10,000 assessment under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act and be placed under supervised release for a period of ten years after completing his prison term.

On January 4, 2018, federal authorities arrested Gratkowski.  The investigation showed that Gratkowski, after purchasing access to multiple child pornography websites using cryptocurrency, had received hundreds of videos of pre-pubescent children engaged in a variety of sexual acts.  On December 19, 2018, Gratkowski pleaded guilty to the charges of receiving child pornography and accessing with intent to view child pornography. 

The FBI San Antonio’s Child Exploitation Human Trafficking Task Force investigated this case along with special agents with the Department of Homeland Security—Office of Inspector General.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Thompson prosecuted this case on behalf of the Government. 

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.