Surprise police arrested 65-year-old Robert Beckham on Tuesday on suspicion of having child sexual abuse images in his email accounts and on his cellphone, according to court records.
The U.S. Marshals Service helped arrest Beckham after months of investigating his online activities. Court documents stated that warrants served on two of Beckham’s Google email accounts revealed 1,700 images of child sexual abuse.
After Beckham was arrested, a forensic analyst also said a brief inspection of the man’s phone showed 3,300 images. Officials said they believe more images could be found on other email accounts and personal electronic belongings like Beckham’s laptop, according to court documents.
During an interview with officials, Beckham said he downloaded or took a screenshot of the images from websites but didn’t share them with anyone, court documents stated. He also said he had never told anyone about it.
“I’m a sick individual. I don’t have an explanation for it. I’m not sending them to anybody… it’s just my own sickness,” he said, according to court documents.
Beckham said he had never put his hands on any child, the documents stated, but he admitted that sometimes when he was in parks he could record children. He said he had done it about 10 times but didn’t share the images with anyone.
Although he has a daughter, Beckham said in the interview his sickness didn’t start until later in life, court documents said.
Beckham said he has watched child phonography for over 20 years now.
Officials arrested him on suspicion of 20 counts on sexual exploitation of a minor and 10 counts of voyeurism for sexual stimulation.
Beckham was booked into a Maricopa County jail and is being held on $100,000 bond. His preliminary hearing is set for March 17.
Reach breaking news reporter Angela Cordoba Perez at [email protected] or on Twitter @AngelaCordobaP.
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