NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana Record) – Baton Rouge attorney Christopher Gerard Young was voluntarily suspended following a Feb. 11 Louisiana Supreme Court attorney disciplinary proceeding regarding his 2017 guilty plea to a child pornography charge.
In its single-page disciplinary proceeding, the high court accepted the petition for consent discipline reached between Young and the office of disciplinary counsel and suspended Young for a year and a day. The suspension was made retroactive to Sept. 28, the date of his interim suspension.
The court also ordered Young to pay all costs and expenses in the matter.
Young was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on April 23, 1993, according to his profile on the Louisiana State Bar Association's website. No prior discipline was listed on his state bar profile.
In May 2016, a federal grand jury indicted Young, then 53, for distribution and possession of child pornography, according to a U.S. Justice Department press release. A federal indictment against Young stemmed from when he was part-owner of a hotel in Costa Rica "where he traveled frequently for business and leisure," the release said.
"Young allegedly received two videos depicting prepubescent boys engaging in bestiality from an associate in Costa Rica," the release said. "From 2013 through 2015, Young allegedly distributed the child pornography videos to approximately 38 different individuals on 33 separate occasions through his smart phones," the release said.
The case was investigated by the FBI.
Young pleaded guilty in November 2017 to a federal misdemeanor charge of being an accessory after the fact to interstate transmission of obscene and child pornography images, according to a report on the advocate.com website. Last April, he was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, according to a report posted on wafb.com.