Former Salinas dentist convicted of child porn charges is sentenced to five years for violating probation.

A Salinas dentist on probation after pleading no contest to possessing vast amounts of child pornography was sentenced Thursday, March 25 to five years in prison after a judge found he had violated the terms of his probation by possessing switchblade knives. 

Gary Klugman, 70, was arrested after a probation check of his home on Oct. 22 found him in possession of the blades. When he reported to the probation office the following day, on Oct. 23, probation officers found he had several other switchblades in his car, adding a misdemeanor charge to his list of problems. 

In December, Klugman pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor and admitted the probation violation. But the sentencing was put off until today, March 25, to allow defense attorneys time to submit a packet of information asking for Klugman to get another chance.

"Defense submitted a packet that said he was deserving of another chance. He was distraught over the loss of his dental license and the selling of his practice, and he was depressed and anxiety-ridden and wasn't aware of the lack of compliance," says Deputy District Attorney Elaine McCleaf. "The judge took it under submission, and she indicted that he was given two grants of felony probation, and advised at the time of the terms and conditions and he had violated the law."

Monterey County Superior Court Judge Julie Culver, McCleaf added, "felt it was important to be consistent in sentencing." 

Defense attorney Juliet Peck could not be immediately reached for comment.

Klugman's case dates back to 2015, when the Monterey County Sheriff's Office received tips about search histories for child pornography on Klugman's computers. A search warrant was then served in January 2016 at his Corral de Tierra home and Blanco Circle dental office for electronic devices, including computers and hard drives; Klugman was subsequently charged with possessing child pornography with an enhancement that he had more than 600 images stored on various electronic devices.

The search also turned up 35 firearms, which he possessed legally, save for one—one of his weapons had an illegally threaded barrel—and Klugman was also charged with illegal possession of an assault weapon because of it. The Sheriff's Office obtained what's known as a gun restraining order that required him to relinquish all of his firearms.

Klugman challenged the legality of the search warrant in a case that made it all the way to the state Supreme Court. In its published decision, the Sixth District Court of Appeal noted that Klugman's attorney, Juliet Peck, argued the warrant was overly broad and lacked probable cause, arguing that the warrant "contained no limiting time periods, specific accounts, precise descriptions of the types of information, or particular electronic devices that could be seized. Nor did it contain any safeguards such as sealing or the appointment of a referee to preserve the privacy of seized information unrelated to the purpose of the warrant. Instead, it authorized a ‘complete dump’ of all electronic devices found at the defendant’s home and business including thousands of patient records.”

The Supreme Court sent the case back to the Sixth District, which ruled the search warrant was lawfully served. 

In May, Judge Culver put Klugman on a suspended prison term of five years and granted him felony probation. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender, forfeit all electronic devices and all firearms as well.