Raleigh man gets 15-year sentence in child pornography case
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Raleigh man described by authorities as a repeat sex offender was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison, the Department of Justice said.
Robert John Richards, 38, received 180 months of confinement followed by five years of supervised release for receipt of child pornography.
Court records presented in May 2021 showed that Richards was investigated by the Raleigh Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Richards was arrested in January 2015 and charged with exposing himself to two 11-year-old girls walking near Valley Estates Drive and Albacore Lane. On July 14, 2015, Richards pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of indecent liberties with a child. He was given a suspended sentence and placed on probation for five years.
While on probation, he was charged with failure to notify of change of address, and he received another suspended sentence, which extended his probation.
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As part of his probation, he was ordered not to possess any sexually stimulating or sexually oriented materials as deemed inappropriate by the probation officer.
On May 25, 2021, Richards consented to a request to search his devices. Probation officers searched his phone and found evidence of visits to a site sometimes used to disseminate child pornography. In a Discord text app, officers found conversations discussing child sexual abuse. Richards also had a laptop that authorities said contained multiple images of child pornography.
He was arrested for a probation violation, and law officers subsequently obtained a search warrant for his digital devices.
When they executed the warrant, authorities found 234 images and 10 videos of child sexual abuse material -- some of the images and videos depicted infants/toddlers and sadistic and masochistic conduct.
The case culminated with the long prison sentence for Richards.
