A former attorney at a Los Angeles County nonprofit that provides legal representation to foster children was sentenced Thursday to more than six years behind bars for distributing child sexual abuse material.
Charles Aghoian, 62, of Camarillo, in Ventura County, was sentenced to 74 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
He pleaded guilty in November 2024 to a charge of distribution of child pornography.
Aghoian was originally charged in March 2024 with three counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
According to an indictment, Aghoian in December 2020 and January 2021 knowingly distributed sexually explicit videos featuring children. In April 2021, Aghoian also possessed on his phone images of child sexual abuse material, including children under the age of 12 years, papers filed in Los Angeles federal court show.
Aghoian was a supervising attorney at the Children’s Law Center of California, which maintains offices in Monterey Park, Lancaster and Sacramento. The organization provides legal representation for abused, neglected or abandoned children who fall under the jurisdiction of the state’s juvenile dependency court system. Its attorneys serve Los Angeles, Sacramento and Placer counties.