Police Working To ID Children Depicted In Pornography Following Arrest Of Desert Hot Springs Man

DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA — Efforts were ongoing Tuesday to attempt to identify some of the children depicted in explicit pictures and videos allegedly procured by a Desert Hot Springs man, who was found residing in the same house with several children at the time of his arrest.

Richard Anthony Rogers, 45, was taken into custody last week following a Desert Hot Springs Police Department investigation stemming from tips that originated with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Subscribe

Rogers is charged with possession of child porn. He pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Friday before Riverside County Superior Court Judge Charles Rogers — no relation to the defendant — who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Sept. 18 at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.

The defendant was being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Smith Correctional Facility.

According to a bail-setting declaration filed by DHS police, in early July, one of the department's detectives assigned part-time to the county's Child Exploitation Team was notified by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children that an Inland Empire resident was uploading obscene materials depicting underage girls.

The Google Drive accounts utilized by the party indicated that the internet protocol address was in Desert Hot Springs, and after several search warrants were obtained, Google and Charter-Spectrum revealed the account holder's identity — Rogers — according to the affidavit.

Detectives confirmed the defendant allegedly had viewed images of what was clearly a minor exposing her genitalia, police said.

Additional warrants were obtained, culminating in Rogers' arrest without incident after a traffic stop last Wednesday morning, while he was driving his Toyota SUV along Pierson Boulevard, not far from home.

Officers then served a warrant at the residence he shared with three adults and two children, whose names were not disclosed.

The defendant's iPad was seized from the property and accessed, revealing eight folders allegedly loaded with child porn, according to the declaration.

It said files depicted multiple "girls ranging from 4 to 13 years old engaging in sexual acts."

One image showed a 4-year-old girl orally copulating an unknown male, police alleged.

The folders were assigned different labels, including "rando girls," "net randos," "ones I know" and "teens." There was also a folder titled "uppies," in which the defendant had allegedly used his camera phone to take snapshots and videos underneath girls' dresses and skirts at area stores, according to the affidavit.

Altogether, police counted 1,021 pictures and videos, mostly the former.

Investigators are still attempting to identify the youths and determine whether the children found in the house with Rogers, who belonged to his adult cohabitants, may have been harmed.

He has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.