| For Immediate Release Case # 12HF0218 September 14, 2012 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
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FORMER SOCCER COACH SENTENCED TO EIGHT YEARS AND EIGHT MONTHS IN PRISON FOR COERCING TWO YOUNG TEENAGE GIRLS INTO SENDING PORNOGRAPHIC VIDEOS TO HIM AFTER MEETING IN ONLINE VIDEO-CHAT ROOM
SANTA ANA – A former youth recreational soccer coach was sentenced today to eight years and eight months in state prison and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration for coercing a 13-year-old and 14-year-old girl into sending him sexually explicit child pornography videos of themselves after meeting in an online chat room and being in possession of nearly 2,000 child pornography images and videos. Robert Vincent Peace, 45, Lake Forest, pleaded guilty to the court today to seven felony counts of lewd acts on a child, three felony counts each of lewd acts upon a child under 14, and contacting a child with intent to commit a lewd act upon a child, two felony counts each of using a minor for sex acts, and possession and control of child pornography, and one felony count of using a minor for distribution of obscene manner with a sentencing enhancement allegation for substantial sexual conduct with a child.
This case was investigated by federal and state investigators from the Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force (OCCETF), including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD), and Huntington Beach Police Department (HBPD).
“This defendant preyed on the most innocent and vulnerable members of our society our children,” said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Los Angeles. “HSI special agents will continue to work closely with our partners on the Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force, using every tool at our disposal, to investigate the perpetrators of these heinous crimes and bring them to justice.”
Jane Doe #1
In 2009, Peace met 13-year-old Jane Doe #1 from Endicott, NY, in an Internet video-chat room on Stickam.com. He exchanged messages with the victim and instructed her to send him sexually explicit videos of herself masturbating over a 2-year period.
After receiving the videos that he requested, Peace threatened Jane Doe that he would post the explicit videos on the Internet if she did not continue to send him new pornographic images. Without the victim’s knowledge, the defendant posted some of the child pornography videos featuring Jane Doe online.
In addition to the videos of Jane Doe, Peace was in possession of over 1,500 images and more than 300 videos of graphic, sexually explicit child pornography on his computer featuring young teenage girls. The videos include webcam footage.
In February 2011, a family member of the defendant discovered some of the child pornography and turned over Peace’s portable hard drive to OCSD. The OCCETF began an investigation and the hard drive was submitted to the Orange County Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory (OCRCFL) for forensic analysis. OCRCFL is a full-service forensics laboratory and training center sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation devoted to the examination of digital evidence. The lab creates a unified body of expert forensic examiners from multiple law enforcement agencies.