Former Cub Scout leader sentenced for child pornography possession

A former Cub Scout leader from Danville has been sentenced in federal court in Oakland to four years and three months in prison for possessing child pornography videos.

Michael Vawter, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lowell Jensen on Friday.

Vawter pleaded guilty before Jensen in December to one count of possession of child pornography.

Prosecutors said in a sentencing brief that when Vawter was arrested in March 2010, he was found to have accumulated more than 170 child pornography videos, some of which showed adults raping young children.

Vawter, a married father of two children, was formerly the volunteer leader of a Danville Cub Scout den affiliated with the Mt. Diablo

Silverado Council of Boy Scouts of America. The group rescinded his membership after his arrest.

Until his arrest, Vawter worked as a broker at his father’s insurance firm, CCI Financial & Insurance Services in San Ramon.

He downloaded the pornography at his office computer, according to a brief filed by his defense attorney.