Teacher arrested for child porn to face more charges

Richard Brian

Boulder City Police Detective Michelle Isham and Chief Thomas Finn said police are expecting tonight to file eight additional charges against Charles Richard “Rick” Rogers, who last week was arrested and charged with 64 counts of possession of child pornography.

By Cassie Tomlin (contact)

Thursday, April 2, 2009 | 5:10 p.m.

Charles Richard "Rick" Rogers

Boulder City Police plan to file eight additional charges, including two counts of sexual assault of a minor under the age of 14, against a junior high school teacher arrested last week on charges of possessing child pornography, Police Chief Thomas Finn said at a press conference today.

Finn also revealed that Charles Richard "Rick" Rogers, 46, had been a part-time Boulder City Police officer until 1991. He did not say how long Rogers had served on the force.

Police expect to charge Rogers with three counts of unlawful use of a minor in the production of pornography, three counts of lewdness with a minor under the age of 14 and two counts of sexual assault of a minor under the age of 14, Finn said.

"This is truly the perfect storm for this community," Finn said. "He was respected and people thought he was an upstanding citizen."

The Clark County District Attorney's office will prosecute the case. Ronald C. Bloxham, chief deputy district attorney, said he has discussed with police the additional charges, but hasn't reviewed the written reports, so no formal charges have been filed. He could not say when he expects them to be filed.

Rogers' attorney Bill Terry said he had no comment.

Rogers, a teacher at Garrett Junior High School and a part-time boys' soccer coach for the city, is being held at Clark County Detention Center on $75,000 bail on 64 counts of possession of child pornography.

His attorney said he was expected to bond out of jail and remain under house arrest. But he was still in jail as of this afternoon.

Rogers was arrested March 27 after Henderson Police received an anonymous letter claiming Rogers had sexual images of minors in his possession.

Included with the letter was a thumb drive and two digital memory cards containing pornographic videos and images of young boys in sexual acts with men, according to an arrest report. The letter alleged the images came from Rogers' home.

Boulder City Police Detective Michelle Isham said today that police are looking for alleged victims in the case, but have not identified any individuals. She asked for any potential victims to come forward to police.

Rogers was licensed as a foster parent in 1994 by the Nevada Division of Child and Family Services, Christine Skorupski, spokeswoman for the Clark County Department of Family Services, said.

He is no longer licensed. Between 1996 until June 2008, when he fostered two children, the department never received any indication of inappropriate behavior, Skorupski said.

The department has identified the two foster children and will work with police to ensure they're followed up with, she said.

While he fostered children, county workers visited his home once every 30 days, she said.

Rogers initially underwent an FBI background check and yearly local criminal checks, Skorupski said.

"I wouldn't want this to characterize foster parents," she said. "I wouldn't want anyone to think this is a means for predators to have access to children. It's quite an undertaking; these people bring children into their homes. For them to have the community aligning them with someone like this would be really unfortunate."

Isham also asked that color photos of any juvenile males who had been left alone with Rogers in the past 10 years be dropped off at the Police Department. She said the photos could help identify potential victims in materials found at Rogers' home.

Last week, police obtained warrants for Rogers' car, classroom and home and confiscated computers, photographs, VHS cassette tapes, cameras and digital storage devices from the home and the classroom, the police report said.

Rogers, who has lived in the Las Vegas Valley since 1980, took in foster children, was a soccer coach for 24 years and taught for Clark County School District since 1992. Since his arrest, Rogers has been banned from coaching and placed on paid leave from his teaching job.