CHILD Pornographer Molested Newborn Baby, Had 7 More Victims, Prosecutor Says
By John O'Brien
A Liverpool child pornographer molested a newborn baby and sexually exploited or abused seven other children, according to a federal prosecutor. The total of eight victims is six more than Jason Kopp admitted to sexually exploiting when he pleaded guilty in May, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Fletcher wrote in court papers. The victims ranged in age from 6 days to 17 years old, Fletcher said in a sentencing memorandum. Kopp, 40, of Liverpool, is scheduled to be sentenced next week in federal court. He pleaded guilty in May to to taking sexually explicit photos of two children with help from an aide at All Saints Elementary School in Syracuse. Neither of those victims was a student at the school. Oberst is accused of exploiting those two victims, plus a third who was a student at the school, photographed naked in a bathroom, sources have told Syracuse.com. Fletcher asked U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby to sentence Kopp to 550 years in prison. She cited a pre-sentence report from probation officers that listed the five new victims. None of those victims was a student at All Saints. Fletcher cited text messages the FBI found on Kopp's phone about the two victims he admitted sexually exploiting. The texts were sent to his co-defendant, Emily Oberst, who was an aide at All Saints. One of the victims was 6 days old when Kopp first abused her, Fletcher wrote. "Always dreamed about molesting baby's and keep doing it as they grow and become older," Kopp wrote in a text after he molested the baby. "I can't wait for it to happen again... ty for making my dreams come true." Kopp, in his texts, referred to the baby girl as his "sex toy" and in other vulgar terms, Fletcher wrote. Two of the new victims were ages 1 and 2 when Kopp got access to them in 2006 by offering to babysit them overnight for their mother, who was a friend of his, the memorandum said. He sexually abused them, took sexually explicit pictures of them and kept the photos on his computer for the past 10 years, Fletcher wrote. The texts Kopp sent to Oberst show he "lacks a conscience, or any moral compass, and poses a real and certain danger to children," Fletcher wrote. "While it is hard to imagine what would lead a person to sexually abuse any child, it is inconceivable that a person could be so inherently evil as to prey upon infants," she wrote. "Jason Kopp, however, is the personification of that very evil." Kopp's lawyer, Assistant Federal Public Defender Randi Bianco, said in her sentencing memorandum that he should get the mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison, partly because of his troubled upbringing. He was sexually abused when he was 10 by a teenage boy, Bianco wrote. And his father repeatedly tried to kill himself, leaving notes for Kopp to find, she said. Kopp suffered from a psychological impairment and tried to kill himself six years ago, she wrote. "After having experienced sexual abuse as a child, Jason had to endure his father's suicide attempt as an adult," Bianco wrote. "These experiences were the perfect storm to create Jason's altered mental state and, in turn, led to the instant offense." Kopp is "extremely remorseful for his crimes," Bianco wrote. "Jason feels horrible about what he has done to the victims and what they will have to endure," she said. Contact: jobrien@syracuse.com
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