Home Day Care Center Closed After Officers Uncover Child Sex Pictures

Orange County officials have shut down an unlicensed day care facility in a Placentia home after federal agents seized a graphic collection of child pornography from the home’s garage, it was disclosed Friday.

About a dozen U.S. postal inspectors and customs agents, in a search for illegally mailed child pornography, swarmed into the Kilmer Drive home of George and Judy Milledge late Wednesday afternoon. The next day Orange County ordered Judy Milledge to end her day care operation or face possible criminal prosecution. Judy Milledge has been baby-sitting for several children for at least a year, according to parents whose children she cared for.

George Milledge, 46, was described as a sales manager for an auto accessories company and an “exemplary� youth football referee and member of the Orange County Football Officials Assn.

Combined Effort

Authorities said the raid was part of an investigation by a joint federal, state and local task force into about 70 Southern California child pornography cases.

Using a search warrant signed by a U.S. Magistrate, agents seized pornographic videotapes and films, about 25 of which featured children, from the trunk of a car parked in Milledge’s garage.

Inside the house, agents seized dozens of films and video tapes featuring teen-agers and adults engaged in sexual acts, pornographic magazines, sexual paraphernalia, an 8-millimeter movie camera, a video camera, and letters and bank records, investigators said.

“The agents didn’t recover any evidence to indicate Mr. Milledge was abusing children in the home,� said Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles J. Stevens. But he said the case received “top priority� because children were being cared for by Mrs. Milledge.

George Milledge was not arrested, but probably will be sent a summons to appear in federal court, Stevens said.

Provision of Law

Federal law prohibits the mailing or transporting of certain material including the “visual depiction of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct,� federal prosecutors said.

After Orange County officials were told of Wednesday’s raid, the supervisor of the county’s family Day Care Licensing unit issued a cease-and-desist order. Child care unit supervisor Susan Martinez said the order “prevents them from taking care of children without a license.�

Milledge has been a youth football referee for about five years, said Bill Hudson, who assigns referees for youth football games in Orange County.

“I’ve never had any problems with him,� Hudson said.

Mail Intercepted

Postal inspectors said they obtained the search warrants after U.S. Customs agents intercepted child pornography mailed to the Milledge house from Sweden and after Milledge began corresponding with undercover agents for the postal service who specialize in child pornography cases.

Last Sunday, an undercover agent taped a phone conversation he had with Milledge. On the tape, Milledge says he has been collecting child pornography for five to 10 years, receives all of his “boychild� pornography from a contact in Sweden and has more than 60 films in his collection, according to an affidavit filed in Los Angeles federal court.