Dojo Pizza's Loren Copp Scheduled for Verdict in Child Porn Case

By Doyle Murphy
Riverfront Times
December 17, 2018

https://bit.ly/2ChUYcr

Former Dojo Pizza owner Loren Copp is accused of sexually abusing girls in his care.

Former Dojo Pizza owner Loren Copp is scheduled to learn his fate the day after Christmas.

The 49-year-old is facing nine felony charges, including producing, attempting to produce and possessing child porn. The alleged victims included underage girls who stayed with him while their parents struggled with poverty and addiction.

He was the subject of an RFT cover story in December 2015.

An ex-pastor, Copp ran a karate studio, community center, rooming house and pizza restaurant out of a converted church in the Bevo Mill neighborhood. He represented himself in April during a bench trial in federal court, personally cross-examining girls who claim he took illicit photos and sexually abused them.

The case has been in the hands of U.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig ever since. On Monday, she signed an order scheduling the long-awaited verdict for 10:30 a.m. on December 26.

Copp was arrested in April 2016 following a series of raids on his building. Federal prosecutors say his abuse spanned years, taking bizarre and complicated forms. He is accused, among other things, of posing online as a teenage girl called "Chrissy" to befriend girls living with him and persuade them to send nude photos. He is also accused of photographing sex acts with a girl who lived with him so long he describes her as his daughter.