Former San Angelo police officer sentenced in federal child porn case
A former San Angelo police officer was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison after admitting to trading online images of child sexual abuse and joining an incest chat room where he posted what officials described as "terrifying" and "stomach-turning" messages about torturing and sexually abusing children.
Robert Rogers, who was a San Angelo police officer for six years starting in 2006, faced between five to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in January to a count of distribution and receipt of child pornography.
He appeared in a federal court in Lubbock for his sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix.
A pre-sentencing report provided the court with a recommended range of 17 and 1/2 to 20 years in prison.
The case against Rogers began in February 2022 when FBI agents infiltrated an online chat room named, "Daughters for rent," in which fathers shared their sexual interest in their daughters and sharing them with other men.
Court records show Rogers communicated with an undercover FBI agent posing as an Alabama man who had 14- and 8-year-old daughters.
Rogers sent the man two sexually explicit videos of two girls, one who was about 8-12 years old and another who was about 6-10.
Rogers also told the man he wanted to have sex with his teenage daughter, saying he would either travel to Alabama or fly the girl to Texas to do it.
A search of his phone yielded more than 300 files containing child sexual abuse material.
Investigators also found evidence Rogers contacted a minor online with whom he exchanged sexually explicit images.
He was arrested in October 2022, more than a decade since he served as a police officer.
His attorney, John Nichols of Forth Worth, asked the court for a 10-year prison sentence saying his client immediately cooperated with law enforcement when he was arrested.
He also asked the court to consider his client's law enforcement background.
He said believed investigators didn't find his client to be a danger since he wasn't arrested until nine months after they identified him as a suspect.
Rogers told the court he planned to use his time in prison to be a better person.
Rogers parents came before the court to seek mercy for their son.
Rogers father said his family was shocked when they learned of the charges against his son.
"It's not in his nature," he said.
However, he said he'd seen a change in his son for the better since he's been incarcerated.
Rogers' mother told the court she had never seen any reason to be concerned about her son around children.
"Before any of this he was a fine officer and a wonderful member of our community," she said.
Prosecutor Callie Woolam described child sexual abuse materials as a documentation of a child's sexual abuse that stays with them for the rest of their lives.
"Children don't get to recover," she said.
She said while the more than 300 files of child sexual abuse materials found on Rogers' phone paled in comparison to other cases -- including one that morning that involved more than 18,000 items -- she said his chat room messages to the undercover agent warranted a significant punishment.
"It's some of the worst chats I've ever read," she said.
She said Rogers encouraged the undercover officer he believed to be a member of the disturbing group chat to rape and torture his 14-year-old daughter.
"It's terrifying that someone out there thinks these things about children," she said. "It shows what his intentions were."
She argued that Rogers' law enforcement background aggravates, instead of mitigates, his actions.
"This is somebody that absolutely should have known better," she said.
As a former police officer, she said, Rogers should have been someone who protected children.
Hendrix told Rogers the evidence before him was "egregious, concerning and stomach turning," and said the 10-year prison sentence his attorney sought was "patently unreasonable."
Hendrix said Rogers' messages were so troubling that he didn't want to repeat them in court.
He said Rogers' actions showed a side of him that was violent, lacked empathy and saw children as objects for his sexual desire.
"You were very explicit," he said. "Your willingness to act on them can't be ignored."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Former San Angelo police officer sentenced in federal child porn case
