A Jamaica man who claimed to be a basketball coach and regularly conducted workouts with teenage boys was sentenced last week to 1 ½ to 4 ½ years in prison for disseminating indecent material to minors, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Robert Walker, 43, pleaded guilty on Aug. 4. His prison sentence was handed down last Wednesday, and Walker will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release.
According to the charges, on April 22, 2014, Walker chatted with a 15-year-old boy using OoVoo, a video chat and instant messaging software. At that time, he told the teen to strip naked and pose during a video link and to send him the nude photographs. A forensic examination of Walker’s electronic devices revealed 27 additional images of children between the ages of 8 and 13 performing sex acts with adult men.
Following Walker’s arrest, he made statements admitting that he conducted workouts with teens under the age of 16 and during those sessions he would have them remove their clothes and he would take pictures and videos of the boys.
Three additional victims were also discovered following search warrants that were executed on the Walker’s Oovoo and Facebook accounts. The three children, 14- and 15-year-olds, played basketball on the team that Walker coached. These boys were also manipulated into stripping naked and exposing their genitals during video chats on Oovoo and on one occasion in person, Brown noted.
Walker “took advantage of his trusted position as a basketball coach and violated the teen boys he instructed in a disgusting manner to satisfy his own sexual needs. The victims will undoubtedly be scarred for the rest of their lives as a result of this man’s manipulative actions,” Brown added.
