A Haines man was sentenced last week to 20 years in prison for producing child pornography. 41-year-old Christopher Panagiotou-Scigliano [PAH-nah-jo-tu SI-liah-no], who lived at Chilkat Lake, had been incarcerated while waiting for the verdict.
On February 8th, a federal court in Anchorage sentenced Christopher Panagiotou-Scigliano to 20 years incarceration. He took a plea agreement, pleading guilty to and one count of Production of Child Pornography.
The sentencing took about two hours, according to Jennifer Ivers, the assistant US attorney who prosecuted the case.
In 2015 Panagiotou-Scigliano moved to Covenant Life Church, a farming community in the Chilkat valley. He later moved to a house on Chilkat lake. According to the court’s press release, after his arrival he arranged for several children he had been grooming and abusing in another state to visit him multiple times. When the children arrived, Panagiotou-Scigliano continued exploiting them by taking numerous sexually explicit images and videos of the victims.
Ivers, the prosecutor, said there is no parole in the federal sentencing system, but the bureau of prisons may reduce the 20-year sentence for good behavior.
Panagiotou-Scigliano is charged with related crimes by his home state’s court. Out of concern for the victim’s privacy, the home state is not named in this story. Ivers says once convicted in that case, he is likely to serve both sentences concurrently. This is common practice when the same crimes are prosecuted by two different courts. It means a second sentence will not necessarily add to the time Panagiotou-Scigliano is incarcerated.
Ivers said neither his wife nor his acquaintances were charged with a crime.
