The Latest: Ex-Tahoe ski worker enters child porn plea

RENO, Nev. – The Latest on the ex-worker at a children’s ski school at Lake Tahoe facing child pornography charges (all times local):

4:45 p.m.

A 26-year-old former worker at a children’s ski school at a Lake Tahoe resort has pleaded not guilty to four counts of child pornography and sexual exploitation of a minor.

Stephan DeGraffenreid of Gardnerville entered the pleas during a hearing Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Reno.

A federal magistrate set a hearing for April 18 to determine whether he should continue to be held without bail until a trial set for June 13.

His lawyer, David Houston, withdrew a motion he filed earlier in the day requesting permission to submit a psychological examination of DeGraffenreid under seal.

Houston said after the hearing he had no immediate comment but intends to file additional documents before the bail hearing.

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11:23 a.m.

A Nevada man who worked at a children’s ski school at a Lake Tahoe resort was scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday on child pornography charges.

Stephan DeGraffenreid, 26, of Gardnerville was arrested March 30 on a charge of sexual exploitation of a minor. A criminal complaint claims his cellphone found on the slopes at the Heavenly ski resort was filled with nude photos of prepubescent females. The complaint was filed with a grand jury indictment handed up on Wednesday.

Federal agents say a search of DeGraffenreid’s home in January found additional images of 3- and 4-year-old children taken in a bathroom at a Gardnerville daycare centre.