19-02-2025
Local man pleads in federal porn case
HIGH POINT — A High Point man who was arrested last year on child pornography and sexual assault of a girl has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of production of child pornography and receipt of child pornography.
Joseph D. Santora, 44, who previously lived on Gatehouse Road, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina in exchange for having the remaining four counts against him dismissed.
Santora faces a sentence of between five and 20 years on the conviction of receipt of child pornography and between 15 and 30 years on the conviction of production of child pornography, according to the plea agreement.
Santora was arrested April 26, 2024, by the High Point Police Department.
High Point police got a search warrant for Santora's house and, while executing the warrant, arrested Santora in his car nearby, according to an affidavit from an FBI agent. At the house, police seized Santora's Google Pixel 8 Pro smartphone. In the search of his house, police seized a second Pixel smartphone.
On the phones police found several videos of girls as young as 8 years old naked and touching themselves sexually, the affidavit said.
The initial investigation involving Santora began a year ago this month with a report of a sexual assault of a girl. In February 2024 a girl told High Point police that she got to know a man online and ran away from her home in another state to meet him in High Point.
During the investigation, detectives identified the man who lured the girl to High Point as Santora, and he was arrested April 26. Santora was charged with first-degree forcible rape, human trafficking and sexual servitude in the investigation involving the girl.
