Man sentenced to eight years for child sexual abuse material crimes

By Atascadero News · Fri Oct 31 2025

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY — Gregory Allen Kornman, a former substitute teacher, was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in state prison for possessing and distributing thousands of images and videos of child sexual abuse material, including depictions of torture and violence against infants and young children.

Kornman, who pleaded guilty in September to 22 charges, faced up to 18 years and four months but received a lesser sentence after Judge Jesse Marino declined to impose certain enhancements. The case began when a sheriff’s deputy observed Kornman engaged in lewd conduct in his vehicle in Nipomo, leading to the discovery of more than 3,000 illicit files.

District Attorney Dan Dow called the material “catastrophic harm to innocent victims” and emphasized the seriousness of such crimes.

"The defendant's deliberate accumulation of thousands of sadistic images depicting the rape and torture of very young children, coupled with the transmission of these materials to others, perpetuates catastrophic harm to innocent victims and fuels a depraved market that incentivizes the continued sexual abuse of children," said District Attorney Dan Dow. "Every single child who was harmed during the production of this material is revictimized each time it is viewed or distributed."

Kornman, previously employed as a substitute teacher in Santa Maria, is not accused of abusing students. He will serve approximately four years before being eligible for parole under current state law.

District Attorney Dow emphasized that this case demonstrates the serious threat posed by those who possess and distribute child sexual abuse material. "While possession of child pornography may appear to some as a passive crime, it is no less serious than direct child sexual molestation. The children depicted in these images suffered grievous harm at the time of production and are exploited again with every viewing and transmission."