On December 10, 2020 Robert Forehand, 39, was sentenced to 121 months in prison for possession of child pornography, in Charlotte, NC. Robert was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release, register as a sex offender after he is released from prison, and to pay $6,000 in restitution to victims and special assessments to the United States totaling $22,000.
According to court records, on July 10, 2019, during a court-ordered risk assessment examination, Robert’s U.S. Probation Officer determined that he possessed a computer which contained three hard drives that were un-monitored by the U.S. Probation Office. A forensic examination of the devices by the FBI revealed that they contained child pornography.
In addition, one of the hard drives had been “wiped” by Robert, however, law enforcement were able to locate the child pornography in his deleted files. Robert possessed more than 400 images of child pornography, some of which depicted the sexual abuse of prepubescent children and sadistic and masochistic conduct.
In handing down the sentence, the judge emphasized the seriousness of the defendant’s offense, and noted the vicious and enduring impact the defendant’s crimes have on the scores of innocent children victimized through the repeated collection and distribution of images and videos memorializing their violent sexual abuse. In August 2020, Robert pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray says:
“Child pornography is repugnant, devastates our moral standards, and injures some of the most vulnerable members of our society. We have to protect children from offenders like Forehand, who continue to violate the law to satisfy their appetite for appalling images depicting the sexual abuse of children. Thanks to the efforts of the U.S. Probation Office, this repeat offender has been removed from society for a very long time, and can no longer cause harm to children.”
Robert was convicted in 2009 for possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to more than nine years in prison and was ordered to serve 10 years under court supervision. As part of his post-conviction release conditions, Robert was prohibited from possessing any type of electronic device that could access the internet, and was ordered to undergo risk assessment testing to monitor compliance with the terms of his supervised release.
