A Cleves man who amassed a collection of 3,000 photos and videos showing children, including infants, being sexually abused shared responsibility for that abuse with the adults who perpetrated it, a judge said.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins told 51-year-old Robert Shepard that possessing the photos and videos was “the furthest thing … from a victimless crime.”
“Because there are people like you who consume this material,” Jenkins said at a May 12 court hearing, “there are people who produce it.”
Jenkins sentenced Shepard to 10 to 11 years in prison.
The children in the videos were from all over the world, and many were identified by investigators and notified about Shepard’s case. But prosecutors did not hear from them.
That’s typical, Assistant Prosecutor Elyse Deters said in a sentencing memorandum. They want to move on with their lives. Because the same photos and videos are circulated so frequently, Deters said, the children would have to relive their trauma regularly by testifying or providing statements in court.
During the sentencing, Deters told Jenkins that “every video and image in this case represents a real child being raped.”
And every time Shepard downloaded and viewed a video or image, Deters said, a child “was revictimized.”
Suicide, drugs, alcohol
The lead investigator on the case, Hamilton County sheriff’s Detective Doug Todd, said the victims often struggle throughout their lives. Some die by suicide. Many abuse drugs and alcohol.
“The child is scarred for life,” Todd said.
Shepard, who pleaded guilty in April to multiple counts of pandering child sexual abuse material, said he was deeply ashamed of himself and that he never wants to look at that kind of material again.
“I’m through with it,” he said.
Shepard sought the ‘youngest’
The 3,000 photos and videos were found on multiple cellphones that Shepard possessed. The investigation started with a “cyber-tip” from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
According to court documents, a technology company initially contacted the center because Shepard’s telephone number had uploaded a photo of child sexual abuse. The center then contacted Ohio’s Internet Crimes Against Children office, which is based in Cleveland. He was arrested in November 2025.
Among the videos initially connected to Shepard was one showing a man sexually assaulting a “newborn infant,” court documents state.
In some videos, the children were crying, Deters said.
On Shepard’s phones, investigators found commonly searched words and phrases, such as: “youngest,” “baby,” “bestiality,” “daughter force” and “rape.”
Deters said Shepard was “looking for the youngest victims, then watching and saving this material.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Man sought videos, photos of ‘youngest’ victims of sexual abuse
Reporting by Kevin Grasha, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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