Gardnerville man pleads to federal child sex exploitation charges

Stephan DeGraffenreid, 26, of Gardnerville, pleaded guilty this week to charges of child sexual exploitation.

U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben accepted his plea to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor.

McKibben set sentencing in the case for Nov. 29. DeGraffenreid faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison on each count.

According to the criminal complaint in the case, child pornography was found on a computer tablet at the Heavenly Ski Resort Children’s Ski School. The device belonged to DeGraffenreid, a former employee at the resort, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre. That device justified a search warrant for DeGraddenreid’s residence, which located a thumb drive containing explicit images of children in a Gardnerville childcare facility restroom.

Myhre said DeGraffenreid admitted to taking the photos.