Boy Scout volunteer arrested on child porn charges
By Sofia Santana and Sun Sentinel
DAVIE — Broward Sheriff's investigators have arrested a Boy Scout volunteer on charges he had 75 images depicting child pornography on one of his computers.
Gary Morano, 65, of Davie, was booked into the Broward Main Jail on Tuesday morning. He was charged with 75 counts of possession of child pornography, and bond was set at $750,000.
Investigators say none of the images featured children Morano was in contact with through the Boy Scouts organization, where he volunteered since March 2008 as a scout leader and assistant scout master for Troop 183.
Sheriff's detectives working with the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force came across information regarding the pornographic images, and they traced the files to a rental property Marano owns in Dania Beach with his wife, officials said.
Morano kept a computer in that building, and detectives found the pornographic images stored on a portable hard drive in the building, officials said.
Investigators say the images featured children between 6 and 10 years old.
Morano told investigators he was the only person who used that computer and that he was aware he had child pornography files on his hard drive, officials said.
Prior to Tuesday, Morano had only one other run-in with authorities in Florida. State records show he was arrested in Miami-Dade County in November 1987 on a charge of resisting an officer. The charge was later dropped.
The Sheriff's Office asks anyone with additional information about Marano to call task force Detective Jennifer Montgomery at 954-888-5240 or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS (8477).
Staff researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.