He traveled the US photographing teen models for a living. Now he’s in a Bay Area jail facing charges that the pics were child porn

Grant Durtschi, 48, was charged with producing and distributing child porn that he allegedly shot of teen models, sometimes with involvement from their parents.

SAN FRANCISCO — A photographer who built his profession around photographing aspiring teen models is now being held on federal charges that he produced child pornography during some of the photoshoots, court records show.

Grant Durtschi, 48, was arrested last month at the San Francisco International Airport while on a layover to a flight to the Philippines, court records show. Prosecutors contend he was fleeing the country after learning he was the subject of an investigation, while Durtschi’s attorney says he was going on vacation to see his wife, who he married via Zoom during the pandemic.

At his first and only court hearing March 23, Durtschi appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler, who ordered Durtschi detained out of concerns he would flee the country, but remarked that the charges were “very unusual” and that “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“I read (the complaint) a couple of times because it’s such an unusual case…it was hard to tell from the complaint that the charges will stand up,” Beeler said, adding that she hadn’t seen the images in question. They’re described in the complaint as photos of a 13-year-old girl in a leotard, as well as pictures where her buttocks and private parts are exposed.

Beeler ordered that Durtschi be transferred to federal custody in Louisiana swiftly. More than a month after that hearing, he remains in the Sana Rita Jail in Dublin, records show.

Durtschi is facing federal charges in Louisiana of producing and possessing child pornography, in the form of photographs taken of a teen model at an AirBnb rental there. According to the complaint. Durtschi took a series of nude and semi-nude photos of the alleged victim, with the girl’s mother present, and authorities recovered the pictures by searching the mother’s laptop.

Durtschi came under authorities’ radar after the alleged victim’s stepdad reported to authorities that his wife was assisting Durtschi in producing child pornography of her own daughter. The complaint alleges that Durtschi sent an electronic message to the girls’ mother stating that he was a pedophile and that so were 99 percent of photographers in the teen modeling industry.

Durtschi’s Instagram page included photos of girls in bathing suits. He amassed thousands of followers, but the pages has since been deleted.

The girl’s stepdad told police that Durtschi admitted that he sold his photos publicly and they were often purchased by “pedos,” FBI Special Agent Stephanie Bobo wrote in the complaint. In an interview with federal authorities, the alleged victim said Durtschi “touched her butt” while adjusting her for a photo and it made her feel uncomfortable.

At Durtschi’s first court hearing, prosecutors said he booked a flight to the Philippines just days after the FBI searched his home. They also said there is an “ongoing financial investigation” involving Durtschi, and that he recently removed $400,000 from bank accounts — and possession unknown amounts of cryptocurrency — that they’re trying to track down.

Durtschi’s lawyer for the initial court appearance, assistant federal public defender Gabriela Bischof, said Durtschi was visiting his wife overseas but still planned to turn himself in if and when federal charges were filed. She asked he be released with an ankle monitor to his mother’s home in Utah and pointed out that authorities seized his passport.

“He knew charges were coming and he wanted to be able to spend time with (his wife) before that case came to fruition. And in fairness to him I have seen many cases that have taken six months to a year to be charged,” Bischof said. She added that she was “concerned” by the complaint and unconvinced that the pictures described in them constituted child pornography.