A 33-year-old Wasilla man with a history of working with children faces child pornography charges after an FBI-led investigation.
According to court documents filed by the U.S. Attorney Office, Daniel Piaskowski knowingly made and published a notice and advertisement to receive, exchange, display and distribute visual depictions of a minor engaging in sexually-explicit conduct between Nov. 20 and Nov. 21 of 2013. In that two day span, he distributed these visual depictions of children between 6 and 10 years old to places in Alaska and elsewhere, documents said.
He was arrested on a warrant and indicted by a federal grand jury on Feb. 21.
Piaskowski faces two counts of sexual exploitation of a child, one for advertising child pornography and the other for distribution of child pornography, felonies. He plead not guilty to both counts, documents said.
For about 19 months, between March 2011 and October 2012, Piaskowski worked as a lead site director with Camp Fire USA Alaska Council, a nonprofit youth development agency that hosts before and after-school programs, community center programs and camps for children.
Joanne Nutter, the interim chief executive officer for Camp Fire, said Piaskowski worked at several sites, supervising school programs, before he quit for another job.
"And I can assure, that during the time of his employment with us, his tenure with us, there was nothing of the nature of his arrest that was of a concern to us at all," she said.
Nutter said Camp Fire is a licensed child-care organization and licensing requirements say that no one staff member can be alone with a child at any time. She encouraged anyone with concerns to call the FBI.
Piaskowski is represented by Cara McNamara, an attorney with the Federal Public Defender's Agency. She did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Prosecutor Audrey Renschen, with the U.S. Attorney's Office, said she could not disclose any information that is not already part of the public record.
FBI Anchorage spokesman, special agent Kevin Donovan, said the FBI's investigation is ongoing and agents are trying to determine if Piaskowski had inappropriate contact with children. Anyone with information can call the FBI Anchorage office at 907-276-4441.
Piaskowski's trial is scheduled for April 29 in Anchorage district court before Judge Timothy Burgess. He is currently in custody at the Anchorage Jail.
Reach Tegan Hanlon at thanlon@adn.com or 257-4589.
By TEGAN HANLON