TULSA, Okla. — A former Tulsa-area emergency management director who once protected residents during crises was sentenced to 10 years on Dec. 15 after pleading guilty to child pornography possession.
Joseph Kralicek walked into court a free man and left in handcuffs after accepting a plea deal that includes six years in prison and four years of supervised probation.
"He will be supervised and he's also going to be required to be a registered sex offender under the Oklahoma Sex Offender's registry," said Steve Kunzweiler, Tulsa County District Attorney.
Kunzweiler noted that defendants who take similar cases to trial often receive much harsher sentences.
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"There are some folks that would have taken this all the way to a jury trial and those are the folks that are getting 20, 30, 40, 50 year sentences," Kunzweiler said.
The case began with a July 3 tip about a Kik messaging account containing child pornography. Investigators traced the account back to Kralicek.
Kralicek's mother, Ruth Tortorici, attended the hearing and continues to support her son despite his guilty plea. She believes the situation was a misunderstanding.
"I didn't read the affidavits because I don't need to because they're just garbage," Tortorici said. "Everybody is jumping on Joseph, calling him a predator and a child molester and that kind of thing, that's not what this is."
Tortorici believes her son may have unknowingly received inappropriate images while using adult websites.
"It doesn't matter that you didn't ask for those pictures. If you're in an adult situation and you're in an adult site that's 18 and over you don't know who you're talking to," Tortorici said.
However, Kunzweiler emphasized that no one receives special treatment regardless of their public profile.
"I think Mr. Kralicek was very well known in the Tulsa area with the number of times he was involved with the different number of emergency issues so it stinks to see somebody like him fall so far but we're going to hold anybody accountable for their criminal conduct and he's no exception," Kunzweiler said.
Kralicek was immediately taken to the Department of Corrections following his sentencing.
He must also pay a $600 fine and $250 to the victim's compensation fund.
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