Ex-Head of L.A. Neighborhood Commission Charged with Possession of Child Pornography

A public relations executive who resigned from an unpaid Los Angeles city job after FBI agents went to his Tarzana home looking for child pornography was expected to make his first court appearance this afternoon on federal child pornography charges.

Al Abrams, 63, of Tarzana, was named Tuesday in an eight-count indictment that accuses him with distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Abrams faces five counts of distributing child pornography, two counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography, prosecutors said. Abrams resigned in early August as president of the seven-member Board of Neighborhood Commissioners, which oversees the neighborhood councils that provide a link between local communities and Los Angeles City Hall. Abrams, who had served on the board since 2008, owns a public relations firm and has worked on ballot measures in Agoura Hills, Westlake Village and Walnut Creek.

According to an affidavit filed in support of a search warrant, authorities looking into a peer-to-peer file-sharing network were able to download more than 150 videos and images depicting child porn from a computer at Abrams' house in August. After his house was searched, he told a TV station that a now-excised growth on his spine left him with a split personality that compelled him to do what normally would have been out of character.

If convicted of all counts, Abrams could face anywhere between five years and 150 years in prison, prosecutors said.

–City News Service