Co-Workers Intending to Play a Prank Find Something More Insidious.
A 36-year old man’s stint at a Christian Church in Lecanto, Florida ended when he was charged possessing child pornography, according to reports from the Raleigh News & Observer.
On May 11, other workers at the Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church intended to play a prank on Chad Robinson. They intended to play with the settings of his mouse and his keyboard. What they found was a big surprise. An illegal one.
Upon opening the computer, they allegedly discovered a video of Robinson with a 14-year-old girl. In the video, Robinson was allegedly attempting to take her clothes off while masturbating, according to court records. Other videos were then found on the computer, including videos of other individuals that Robinson purportedly made in secret in the bathroom of his home. Some videos dated back 4 years to 2013.
More than 350,000 images and 3,000 videos were eventually discovered on the computer, according to Citrus County Sheriff’s department reports. (Get it? Florida… Citrus. You get the point.)
The Sheriff’s department alleges that the victims are from all over the country and Canada. This makes it possible, if not likely, that Robinson could even be federally indicted on the allegations.
“According to my detectives, this case is a textbook case of an online sexual predator,” said Citrus County Sheriff Mike Prendergast.
In North Carolina, solicitation of a child by computer or other electronic device is found at N.C. Gen. Stat. §14-202.3. The crime is punishable as a Class H felony (punishable by a maximum of 39 months in prison). But, if the defendant actually shows up at a meeting with the child, it is a Class G felony (punishable by a maximum of 41 months).
But this would be the least of Robinson’s problems in North Carolina. A sex act with a child could be punishable as a B1 felony, which in the worst case scenario is punishable by life in prison without the possibility of parole.