MESA, AZ (AZ Family) – A Mesa man who works as a high school custodian has been arrested in connection with child pornography.

Steven A. Gardoni, 38, faces four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor following his arrest earlier this week.

On Monday, Yahoo, Inc. informed the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that a subscriber had uploaded and shared child pornography. The company flagged 11 files on an account registered to a subscriber who lives in Mesa.

NCMEC notified the Arizona Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forceand the case was assigned to Phoenix police detectives. Court documents say the complaint escalated because one of the flagged files was believed to be newly produced or homemade content depicting child sexual abuse of an infant.

The documents say detectives learned that the suspect, later identified as Gardoni, had been using his email account to send and receive files.

In one case, Gardoni allegedly emailed a QR code to another person that linked to his Telegram account, where her username was “Little Diaper Lover.”

Investigators also determined that he was a night janitor at Skyline High School in Mesa.

He was arrested at his Mesa apartment Wednesday afternoon.

During an interview with detectives, documents say Gardoni admitted to being the owner of the Yahoo account.

Detectives then asked him if he knew “about the Internet activity” and Gardoni reportedly responded, “it’s child pornography” and that they could take him to jail.

According to the documents, he admitted to using his email address and Telegram account to exchange files depicting child sexual abuse, including photographs and videos of babies.

Gardoni reportedly told investigators that all the files involved children under the age of 6 and that he “just looks at them out of curiosity.”

He was later booked into the Maricopa County Jail.

The principal of Skyline High School sent the following message to families:

horizon families,

I am contacting you to inform you that one of our night custodians, Steve Gardoni, was arrested today by the Phoenix Police Department on child pornography charges.

Your child’s safety is our top priority. The custodian was immediately placed on administrative leave. The district will work closely with the Phoenix Police Department. He has been employed by Mesa Public Schools since 2022. He passed a background check as a condition of employment and we had no indication of inappropriate behavior until he was arrested. We will continue to follow all district protocols to ensure the safety of our students.

Thank you,

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