T
Traci Steele
Guest
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jun/08/former-teacher-gets-6-life-sentences-child-sex-cas/
A Boulder City man who prosecutors say spent his life positioning
himself to be able to sexually prey on young boys will now likely spend
the rest of his life in prison.
Charles Richard Rogers, a former Boulder City middle school teacher and
youth soccer coach, was sentenced Tuesday in Clark County District Court
to six life sentences â four that will run one after the other.
Rogers, 47, will have to serve a minimum of 60 years before he is
eligible for parole under the sentence handed down by District Judge
Michael P. Villoni.
"To a certain extent, you did some good things in your life," Villoni
told Rogers, who was a well-liked science teacher at Garret Middle
School who also coached boys' soccer.
However, the harm to the victims "outweighs by a million times," the
good Rogers had done in his life, Villoni said.
Rogers, known as âRick,â had been a part-time Boulder City Police
officer until 1991. He was also a licensed foster parent and fostered
two children from 1996 until June 2008. He moved to the Las Vegas area
in 1980 and began working for the Clark County School District in 1992.
Rogersâ arrest in March 2009 stunned the small town of Boulder City. He
pleaded guilty to three counts of lewdness with a child under the age of
14, two counts of sexual assault with a minor under the age of 14, and
one count of the use of a minor under the age of 14 in the production of
pornography.
The original indictment against Rogers included dozens of crimes that
spanned from 1999 to 2009, including numerous charges of possession of
child porn.
Stacy Kollins, chief deputy district attorney, special victims unit,
said that thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Boulder City and
Henderson police departments, "we find ourselves with a very prolific
offender."
Kollins said the case began with an anonymous delivery to the Henderson
Police Department of a computer Zip drive that contained images of a man
with various children and an address in Boulder City.
Police were able to learn the man in the images was Rogers, then
obtained a search warrant for his residence, she said.
"The case started out with about 15 counts of child pornography," she
said. "During the execution of that warrant, multiple computers, Zip
drives, CDs and VHS tapes were found."
Those provided images of Rogers engaged in sexual acts with multiple
juvenile boys, as well as regularly traded child pornography, Kollins
said. At that time, investigators had not yet identified any of the
boys, she said.
Eventually, the Boulder City police department used school yearbooks to
help track down some of the victims, which helped to break open the case
for Rogers' live victim sexual abuse as well as his use of the boys in
his production of child pornography, Kollins said.
"There is fondling, there is feined anal intercourse, there is
fellatio," she said. They also found writings made by Rogers that
whether they were fantasy or realistic, "are quite disturbing," she said.
Kollins said she didn't attach that to the sentencing memo she sent to
the judge because she didn't want it to be part of the public record.
"You know judge, I've been doing this job for a while. I was going to
read that to you in court, particularly the second page, and I can't do
it. I just can't do it," Kollins said, her voice shaking. "It involves
feces and urination and fellatio and it is very graphic and it is very
graphic to specific victims."
Kollins said she was concerned that the court did not know the full
extent of what Rogers had done, including "this offender's relentless
pursuit of juvenile males in our community."
"I think what the state finds very disturbing about this case is this
defendant's ability to permeate the community and cloak himself in such
a way to gain the trust of the police department and the school district
and the foster care system," Kollins said. "All the while it was just a
means to his own end: the sexual abuse of young males in our community."
Kollins told the judge that Rogers "can't be cured. He cannot be
rehabilitated and he can't be fixed. He is is a predator. And he is one
of the most frightening types of predators because of the way he has
been able to position himself as a philanthropist, as one who cares for
children, as a soccer coach and as a teacher."
She said some of the sexual acts occurred at the Boulder Middle School.
"He has positioned himself with juvenile males for a course of years.
He's not going to change," she said.
Before sentencing, Rogers told the judge "I know that I'm going to be
incarcerated. I know that it is going to be for a long time. ... No
matter what anybody says today, it's not going to be any worse than how
I feel right now. I feel very bad about this whole thing."
Rogers said he decided to plead guilty and not to go to trial "to
protect kids" from having to come into the court to testify.
He said he knew that he had disappointed and betrayed "hundreds and
hundreds of people," including his family, friends, co-workers and
parents who trusted him.
"To say I'm sorry doesn't seem strong enough," Rogers said. "... I would
hope some day people would be able to forgive me. I don't agree that I
can't be fixed. I just don't agree with that. I don't agree that I'm a
predator. I do agree I've done some things, a lot of things, that I'm
ashamed of."
Rogers said that, due to his medical conditions -- he has had a kidney
transplant and is suffering from cancer -- that he doesn't expect to
survive a long sentence.
Rogers asked the judge to grant him "some light at the end of the
tunnel" so he would have the possibility of proving he could redeem himself.
He said that he had done a lot of positive things in his life and that
it wasn't just so he could be in search of victims.
"I've served my country. I've served my community. I feel I've done a
lot of great things in my life," he said. "I feel like the acts I've
committed have thrown that all out the window and made my life worthless."
Before sentencing, the judge heard from the mother of one of Rogers'
victims, who she had adopted when the boy was 16 years old. She said the
boy suffered bouts of insomnia and had nightmares.
Eventually, when the boy saw Rogers being arrested on television, he
began vomiting and finally admitted that he had been abused by Rogers
since he was 10 years old. Since that time, her son has been diagnosed
with post-traumatic stress syndrome and has racked up thousands of
dollars in medical bills, the mother told the judge.
The boy, who is now 18, told the judge that he almost killed himself. He
said he knows of two more victims who were too afraid to come forward.
"There isn't a day that I don't think about this," the boy said.
The mother called for life imprisonment for Rogers, who, she said, has
done "permanent damage" to her son.
"The man is a monster and he has no soul," the mother said. "Why should
he have a light at the end of the tunnel? ... There will be a very, very
special place for him in hell."
A father of one of the victims was very emotional as he spoke to the
judge about Rogers.
"If he dies in prison, then so be it," the father said, "because he
don't deserve parole."
A Boulder City man who prosecutors say spent his life positioning
himself to be able to sexually prey on young boys will now likely spend
the rest of his life in prison.
Charles Richard Rogers, a former Boulder City middle school teacher and
youth soccer coach, was sentenced Tuesday in Clark County District Court
to six life sentences â four that will run one after the other.
Rogers, 47, will have to serve a minimum of 60 years before he is
eligible for parole under the sentence handed down by District Judge
Michael P. Villoni.
"To a certain extent, you did some good things in your life," Villoni
told Rogers, who was a well-liked science teacher at Garret Middle
School who also coached boys' soccer.
However, the harm to the victims "outweighs by a million times," the
good Rogers had done in his life, Villoni said.
Rogers, known as âRick,â had been a part-time Boulder City Police
officer until 1991. He was also a licensed foster parent and fostered
two children from 1996 until June 2008. He moved to the Las Vegas area
in 1980 and began working for the Clark County School District in 1992.
Rogersâ arrest in March 2009 stunned the small town of Boulder City. He
pleaded guilty to three counts of lewdness with a child under the age of
14, two counts of sexual assault with a minor under the age of 14, and
one count of the use of a minor under the age of 14 in the production of
pornography.
The original indictment against Rogers included dozens of crimes that
spanned from 1999 to 2009, including numerous charges of possession of
child porn.
Stacy Kollins, chief deputy district attorney, special victims unit,
said that thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Boulder City and
Henderson police departments, "we find ourselves with a very prolific
offender."
Kollins said the case began with an anonymous delivery to the Henderson
Police Department of a computer Zip drive that contained images of a man
with various children and an address in Boulder City.
Police were able to learn the man in the images was Rogers, then
obtained a search warrant for his residence, she said.
"The case started out with about 15 counts of child pornography," she
said. "During the execution of that warrant, multiple computers, Zip
drives, CDs and VHS tapes were found."
Those provided images of Rogers engaged in sexual acts with multiple
juvenile boys, as well as regularly traded child pornography, Kollins
said. At that time, investigators had not yet identified any of the
boys, she said.
Eventually, the Boulder City police department used school yearbooks to
help track down some of the victims, which helped to break open the case
for Rogers' live victim sexual abuse as well as his use of the boys in
his production of child pornography, Kollins said.
"There is fondling, there is feined anal intercourse, there is
fellatio," she said. They also found writings made by Rogers that
whether they were fantasy or realistic, "are quite disturbing," she said.
Kollins said she didn't attach that to the sentencing memo she sent to
the judge because she didn't want it to be part of the public record.
"You know judge, I've been doing this job for a while. I was going to
read that to you in court, particularly the second page, and I can't do
it. I just can't do it," Kollins said, her voice shaking. "It involves
feces and urination and fellatio and it is very graphic and it is very
graphic to specific victims."
Kollins said she was concerned that the court did not know the full
extent of what Rogers had done, including "this offender's relentless
pursuit of juvenile males in our community."
"I think what the state finds very disturbing about this case is this
defendant's ability to permeate the community and cloak himself in such
a way to gain the trust of the police department and the school district
and the foster care system," Kollins said. "All the while it was just a
means to his own end: the sexual abuse of young males in our community."
Kollins told the judge that Rogers "can't be cured. He cannot be
rehabilitated and he can't be fixed. He is is a predator. And he is one
of the most frightening types of predators because of the way he has
been able to position himself as a philanthropist, as one who cares for
children, as a soccer coach and as a teacher."
She said some of the sexual acts occurred at the Boulder Middle School.
"He has positioned himself with juvenile males for a course of years.
He's not going to change," she said.
Before sentencing, Rogers told the judge "I know that I'm going to be
incarcerated. I know that it is going to be for a long time. ... No
matter what anybody says today, it's not going to be any worse than how
I feel right now. I feel very bad about this whole thing."
Rogers said he decided to plead guilty and not to go to trial "to
protect kids" from having to come into the court to testify.
He said he knew that he had disappointed and betrayed "hundreds and
hundreds of people," including his family, friends, co-workers and
parents who trusted him.
"To say I'm sorry doesn't seem strong enough," Rogers said. "... I would
hope some day people would be able to forgive me. I don't agree that I
can't be fixed. I just don't agree with that. I don't agree that I'm a
predator. I do agree I've done some things, a lot of things, that I'm
ashamed of."
Rogers said that, due to his medical conditions -- he has had a kidney
transplant and is suffering from cancer -- that he doesn't expect to
survive a long sentence.
Rogers asked the judge to grant him "some light at the end of the
tunnel" so he would have the possibility of proving he could redeem himself.
He said that he had done a lot of positive things in his life and that
it wasn't just so he could be in search of victims.
"I've served my country. I've served my community. I feel I've done a
lot of great things in my life," he said. "I feel like the acts I've
committed have thrown that all out the window and made my life worthless."
Before sentencing, the judge heard from the mother of one of Rogers'
victims, who she had adopted when the boy was 16 years old. She said the
boy suffered bouts of insomnia and had nightmares.
Eventually, when the boy saw Rogers being arrested on television, he
began vomiting and finally admitted that he had been abused by Rogers
since he was 10 years old. Since that time, her son has been diagnosed
with post-traumatic stress syndrome and has racked up thousands of
dollars in medical bills, the mother told the judge.
The boy, who is now 18, told the judge that he almost killed himself. He
said he knows of two more victims who were too afraid to come forward.
"There isn't a day that I don't think about this," the boy said.
The mother called for life imprisonment for Rogers, who, she said, has
done "permanent damage" to her son.
"The man is a monster and he has no soul," the mother said. "Why should
he have a light at the end of the tunnel? ... There will be a very, very
special place for him in hell."
A father of one of the victims was very emotional as he spoke to the
judge about Rogers.
"If he dies in prison, then so be it," the father said, "because he
don't deserve parole."