Photos of naked boys on judo coach's laptop

Ninety-three photographs of naked boys were recovered on the laptop computer of a judo instructor charged with molesting two youths, jurors in his Sutter County Superior Court trial were told Tuesday.

The photos were shown to the jury in the trial of Yuba City resident David Gerald Leonard, 44.

Casimer Szyper, who served as a a police officer on the Sacramento County High Tech Crimes Task Force, testified he recovered the files in 2006 from one of five computers at Leonard's home.

The trial in the case, prosecuted by deputy district attorney Amanda Hopper, is in its third week.

Jurors also heard Marysville resident David Barlow, 53, testify that he saw about a half-dozen pictures of naked boys on Leonard's computer several years ago — and that Leonard told him to disappear during the criminal trial so that Barlow would be unavailable to testify for the prosecution.

Leonard's attorney would eat him up if he testified, Barlow said the defendant told him.

The naked photographs of the youths were particularly disconcerting because Leonard "had a lot of kids around the house — mostly boys," Barlow testified.

Leonard's work in judo included a camp in foothills.

He faces four felony molestation charges involving boys who were under the age of 14 and involving his alleged acts between 2002 and 2004 in Sutter County.

His attorney Matthew Beauchamp declined to comment on the case.

Appeal-Democrat reporter Ryan McCarthy can be contacted at 749-4707 or at rmccarthy@appealdemocrat.com.