School janitor arrested on child porn charges in Mesa

MESA, AZ (AZFamily) — A Mesa man who works as a high school janitor has been arrested in connection to child pornography.

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

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

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

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

In one instance, Gardoni reportedly emailed a QR code to someone else that linked to his Telegram account, where his username was "Little Diaper Lover."

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

He was arrested at his Mesa apartment early 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 "concerning internet activity," and Gardoni reportedly responded, "it's about kid porn," and that they could just take him to jail now.

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

Gardoni reportedly told investigators that all the files involved children under the age of 6 years old and that "he just watches it out of curiosity."

He was later booked into the Maricopa County jail.

Skyline High School's principal sent the following message to families:

Skyline families,

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

Your child's safety is our top priority. The custodian was immediately placed on administrative leave. The district will work to the fullest extent 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,