Mooser, who has pleaded not guilty to the charge, is scheduled to appear in Santa Clara County Superior Court on Tuesday.

"Mr. Mooser has an excellent reputation in this community and has contributed in many ways," said his lawyer, Sam Polverino, who plans to vigorously fight the charges.

"Nobody wants to be put in a position like this. He, as everybody else, is presumed innocent until the contrary is proven."

Reached by phone late Thursday, Mooser, 76, said, "It's an open case. I am not guilty." He declined to comment further and accused the newspaper of sensationalizing the case.

According to federal documents, Mooser allegedly spent nearly $400 for access to child pornography Web sites.

Using a PayPal account, the documents allege, at least five times in 2006 and 2007, Mooser accessed various illegal sites, including one called, "1001 Desired Angels."

After seizing Mooser's computers at his Campbell home, they found a disc with 316 images of underage girls in various states of costume dress, according to documents filed by the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

None of the girls appeared to be more than 12 years of age, and many contained graphic images of their genitalia, federal authorities allege.When authorities executed a search warrant at his home in January 2009, Mooser admitted that he bought, viewed and downloaded child pornography, the document states. He also reportedly said that he was just curious and didn't like it so he deleted it from his computer. He did not explain, however, why his curiosity led him to do it.In a sworn statement to authorities, Mooser stated he made a "mistake and I regret it very much."

Mooser, who travels extensively, was also known to have visited an orphanage in Cambodia. In his interview with federal authorities, he said, that he had never been alone with any of the children and had not touched them inappropriately.

Los Gatos businesswoman Janet Dashiell, who first met Mooser about 20 years ago and developed a close friendship with him during the past five or six years, said the former restaurant owner has been dedicated to raising money for the Cambodian orphanage. Dashiell volunteers for an international agency that focuses on helping refugees, orphans and other oppressed people in Third World countries and asked Mooser to visit the orphanage with her while traveling together in 2008.

Although their visit lasted just a few hours, Dashiell said both she and Mooser were so impressed by the orphanage's director that they wanted to help.

"It was inspirational to both of us," Dashiell said. "Emile has been a driving force in getting money over there. He raises a lot of money for children who don't have anything."

Steve Borkenhagen, owner of Eulipia restaurant in downtown San Jose and a longtime friend of Mooser's, was flabbergasted by news of the arrest. Borkenhagen described Mooser as a great friend and mentor and the pioneer of downtown dining in San Jose.

"I just hope the best for Emile," Borkenhagen said.

Mooser, who retired in 2006, was a pioneer in fine dining in San Jose.

The Swiss-born chef had been cooking professionally for more than 58 years when he sold his downtown restaurant with its sophisticated Swiss-French cuisine.

At the time, he said, he planned to divide his time among his condo in Campbell, a pied-à-terre in San Francisco and an apartment in Switzerland.

Mooser was arrested in September and has been out on bail. If convicted of the charge, he faces a maximum three years in prison and must register as a sex offender.

Mooser came to the attention of law enforcement during the course of a federal undercover initiative known as "Project Flicker."

In April 2006, Immigration and Customs Enforcement initiated an investigation into a criminal organization operating and controlling numerous commercial child exploitation Web sites.