This wierdo needs to meet some girls.
Save it for prison. You'll need it.
Art teacher sentenced for filming young students in homes
By MICHELLE WASHINGTON, The Virginian-Pilot
© December 19, 2003
Last updated: 7:25 PM
NORFOLK A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a former art teacher to 10 years in prison for secretly watching and filming young students at his homes.
Robert J. Karl taught at Virginia Beachs Old Donation Center and was nationally recognized for his work. Some parents sent their children to his homes in Norfolk and North Carolina for private art lessons.
Federal prosecutors said Karl displayed pornographic magazines so students could see them. Those students were typically boys between 10 and 14 years old. Karl used peepholes, mirrors and video cameras to capture the boys masturbating, prosecutors and court records said. The boys had no idea they were being watched or filmed.
Karl pleaded guilty in September to producing sexually explicit videos of six boys. He agreed to forfeit his homes to the federal government, including property on the Outer Banks worth more than $200,000. U.S. District Judge Henry C. Morgan Jr. also fined Karl $15,000.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Arenda W. Allen told Morgan that prosecutors thanked Karl for his guilty plea and cooperation during the investigation.
A trial would have further victimized these John Does, Allen said. We would have had to show video clips to the boys and their parents.
Karls voice cracked as he read a statement. Karl said he suffered extreme depression after the deaths of his mother and a good friend and withdrew from people who supported him. He sought psychological help in 2001, he said, and continues to participate in group and individual therapy. He said he has completed a sex-offender program.
My actions were totally inappropriate, Karl said. Im deeply apologetic to the individual families involved, to the community and to this court. I was blind and stupid.
Morgan denied Karls request to report to prison in 10 days. Karl said he feared retribution from prisoners who had seen his face on television or in the newspaper. Morgan said he had researched the request. Prisoners find out an inmates identity and crime without the help of the media, Morgan said, so delaying his start time would serve no purpose.
One of the victims of Karls crimes looked to his mother as marshals led Karl from the courtroom in handcuffs. The 23-year-old man was 16 at the time Karl filmed him, he said, and didnt know anything had happened until FBI agents knocked on his door and showed him the pictures.
Im glad hes gone, the man said. Reach Michelle Washington at 446-2287 or at michelle.washington@pilotonline.com