Bay Area property manager with ‘regular access’ to kids’ homes recorded disturbing video of himself in child porn collection, feds say

SAN FRANCISCO — A Bay Area man whose job allowed him access to numerous apartments where kids live has been charged with child pornography possession, and prosecutors say one of the videos shows him committing a lewd act involving a child, court records show.

Cristian Mattus-Piccardo, 50, was indicted June 20 on charges of possessing child pornography. In a subsequent motion to keep him detained, prosecutors wrote that one of the videos depicts Mattus-Piccardo “sucking the tongue of at least one young girl for upwards of thirty seconds at a time,” then telling her to keep it a secret. It appeared to be while he was babysitting the child, authorities wrote in court papers.

“He works as a janitor at a building downtown, and is a property manager at a multi-family residence in Potrero Hill. He has regular access to the other units where children live. He babysits on occasion,” Assistant U.S. Attorney George Hageman wrote in a court motion.

Mattus-Piccardo was ordered detained at a June 26 hearing, meaning that unless another judge reverses the decision he will be held without bail until his case is completed. He is in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin currently, records show.

Mattus-Piccardo’s next court date has been set for August.

The trove of child pornography allegedly found in Mattus-Piccardo’s cellphone included videos of children being violently abused, by both adults and other children. Some of the kids depicted were as young as 3 years old, authorities claim.

The video of Mattus-Piccardo shows him forcibly kissing a girl whose age has been estimated at 7 to 11 years old, and ends when Mattus-Piccardo hears her mom’s car pull into the driveway and instructs her not to tell on him, prosecutors said.

The investigation into Mattus-Piccardo started in 2022 with a tip about peer-to-peer network sharing of inappropriate material, authorities say. Mattus-Piccardo’s cellphone was seized from his San Francisco home earlier this year. Prosecutors allege that agents found 303 images and 159 videos of child sexual abuse material from the phone.