Citrus County Worship Director Busted on Porn Charges

WFLA
July 13, 2017

http://wfla.com/2017/07/13/citrus-co-church-leader-indicted-for-child-porn-secretly-recorded-girls-in-bathroom-cops-say/

Citrus County investigators say they found hundreds of thousands of pornographic pictures and thousands of videos on a computer belonging to a church leader.

A Citrus County worship director is facing serious sex-related charges after deputies tell us they found some shots of young girls on Chad Robison’s laptop.

Cops worry some of those victims could be from the Tampa Bay area.

After spending less than a day in the Citrus County Jail, Chad Robison, 36, is free on bond.

When he would not stop and talk, he was asked: “Chad, are you attracted to young girls?” He did not respond.

Shielded by an older man, Robison kept his head down.

Another question was shouted: “What about the parishioners at the church? They trusted you. Chad, do you have anything to say to us?” Again, he didn’t respond.

He made his way to a waiting SUV.

Investigators tell us, Robison, an employee of the Seven Rivers Presbyterian church in Lecanto, had child porn on his laptop computer.

“This is a textbook case of an online sexual predator and it will not be tolerated in Citrus County and we’re going to vigorously pursue people who commit crimes like this,” said Sheriff Mike Prendergast.

Cops said a church co-worker stumbled on videos on Robison’s laptop, some of them showing him performing “virtual sex acts” with young girls, and even secretly recorded videos of girls using the restroom in his home.

“Everything that we teach in our schools and when we go out and do internet safety events, this is the type of predator that we warn kids about,” said Det. Chris Cornell.

Robison’s former church issued a statement, saying, it had no knowledge or suspicion of improper conduct. It dismissed Robison on May 15th and banned him from the church campus.

“It’s just shocking. Shocking because, I mean, he’s someone you know you thought was good,” said church member Mary Kate Norrie.

The sheriff tells us Robison looks like the guy you’d see at Walmart or Publix and you’d never know it.

The sheriff is pleading with anyone who may know potential victims to contact them.

Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church released the following statement regarding his arrest:

On Thursday, May 11, we received serious allegations about material found on the personal computer of our music director, Chad Robison. Prior to May 11, we had no knowledge or suspicion of improper conduct by Mr. Robison. We investigated these allegations and dismissed Mr. Robison from employment at Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church on Monday, May 15 and banned him from our campus. Simultaneously, we informed the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office of what we had discovered. It should be noted that Mr. Robison was an employee of our church and not our school. Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church remains committed to full cooperation with the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office in this matter.