LOS ANGELES — An Antelope Valley landscaper was arrested on federal child pornography charges this week for allegedly generating sexually explicit images of a 3-month-old boy and emailing them to an undercover investigator in England.
Robert Dale Schrader, 33, of Littlerock is charged in a criminal complaint with two counts of production of child pornography. If convicted of both counts, Schrader faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a possible maximum sentence of 60 years.
According to the criminal complaint, the probe targeting Schrader began Jan. 29 after British authorities alerted homeland security investigators in London that an individual using a Yahoo email account had sent multiple sexually explicit images of an infant to an undercover officer in England. Data embedded in those images allegedly indicated they had been taken in the vicinity of Schrader’s Littlerock home.
That same day, investigators executed a federal search warrant at Schrader’s residence, where they located the infant seen in the images. The boy was rescued and turned over to DCFS. During the search of the home, authorities recovered additional evidence potentially linked to the case, including children’s clothing and computer equipment.
“This is one of the youngest, if not the youngest, child pornography victims ever identified in the Los Angeles area,” said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for HSI Los Angeles. “Fortunately, remarkable international cooperation and very astute detective work enabled us to locate this infant and rescue him just hours after receiving the initial lead.”
Schrader was arrested by Palmdale deputies on Jan. 30, and then taken into federal custody Monday afternoon.
Schrader’s arrest is the result of an ongoing probe by federal and local investigators assigned to the multi-agency Child Exploitation Investigations Group (CEIG), spearheaded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
The investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 10,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2013, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.
HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.
For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, visit the online suspect alerts page.
Schrader’s case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
[Information via press release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)].
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bird says
The whole village failed this precious baby. This baby needs to be protected and loved above all else. No hate, no violence! Lift this child up no matter what.
Oscar Mejia says
This is NASTY!!! plain old NASTY!!! I am happy this individual is behind bars. I wish the babyboy the very best in life.
Lets clean up our streets from this garbage.
Oscar Mejia
Lancaster City Council Candidate
http://www.facebook.com/vote.oscar.mejia
Reyes says
hope they put him away for a long time and i hope he gets the same treatment he put on that poor child
Debbie says
I think it would be justified to have used a photo of Robby Schrader Jr. That sick POS should have his mug plastered all over the news!!
Utterly revolting. What kind of sicko would even dream of defiling a baby in such a perverted way!?
Also, what kind of twisted perverts would want to watch/ and or buy such atrocious type of porno!?? SMFH!!~
sickofit says
I agree…that poor baby is hopefully ok. And why isn’t there a mug shot of this degenerate?! Wondering why lawmakers have not already made it mandatory for these sickos to be handled exactly the same as an unruly bull or stallion. Easy enough to rectify the problem and ensure no repeat offenders. Disgusting.
biggchris says
first time in my life i am glad there are cop in this valley
Debbie says
I agree biggchris
Amanda says
Insane! I know this guy ! A lot of people in the av do!! My god I would have never even suspected he could do something like this!! And a three month old infant? How could anyone do such a thing?? I am ill.. I hope a few of the homies get ahold of him!! In or out of prison, he will never be safe!! Poor baby, I pray he’s not scarred for life, literally… How could you even get sexually explicit with an infant of that age????? He’ll is to good for him, truly!
Debbie says
You are right Amanda, a lot of people do know the pervert. As soon as I saw Littlerock mentioned, I read the article and my jaw dropped!
What a sick POS Robbie is.
Great job by all the involved LE agencies for their rapid response and locking that creep up.
He needs to get the max sentence! Hopefully he’ll never see the light of day. If someday he gets released, I hope and pray that he is a very old man incapable of any type of preying and performing any type of disgusting horrid acts on anyone ever again!
AV Folk says
I’m amazed at how fast the law enforcement cooperation happened. That baby’s life was saved by those investigators.
Yay says
Amen!!! Great job !!!
Jenny says
Really incredible international and local cooperation. Thank you to everyone who was a part of helping this child. May we all be so quick to action should we see or hear of a child in distress.
Desiree says
[removed] nasty ass man you sick bastard that poor child I swear this really hurts my heart I swear I hate u nasty backwoods [removed]
rooney says
Ditto Desiree. He is one sick a-hole. They should let the parents have ten minutes with him.
ValGirl says
He was the parent! So, so deviant and SICK!
Debbie says
Yes- that sick twisted perverted POS is the dad. Imagine how bad the poor little baby boy’s mom is- seeing how the extremely sick monster dad was awarded custody!!!!
That poor little innocent (for now) 3 month old infant was born with 2 strikes against him for having both those POS for parents!
I sure hope the baby boy gets adopted right away and that no harm was done.
Also, the birth “parents” should never ever have any chance of knowing the baby’s where abouts period!
The adoption needs to be kept top secret confidential information for the rest of that baby’s life.
UFB!!
dumbandblind says
These are the kind of people NASA should send to Mars.
L-Rock says
FPOS!!
I hope this scumbag gets the maximum sentence! Too bad we do not castrate pedophiles here in the US!!
Arod says
That would be the best punishment along with taking their hands off so they never touch another child again!
Irena says
We do have chemical castration available as part of punishment in CA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_castration#United_States_2
Amanda says
The chemical castration that you are referring to is to humane, its medication that is given. It causes no pain or discomfort. From what I read it takes the desire away and they no longer become aroused. This monster and every other monster who prey on babies and children deserve to have acid put on there privates and given medication so they can’t pass out from the pain, make them watch and feel the acid eating away at their flesh. I think they should do the same to their hands and after the flesh has been eaten away they should cut the hands off. I know this probably makes me sound crazy to think like this but I have babies of my own and the thought of this happening to my babies is what I would want done to the monster who hurt my babies.
james sosa says
Lock him up and never let him out!
minty says
What a sicko! Never never never let him out…. let him rot in jail!!!!!!
The story didn’t mention if the child was his or who it belongs to, not that it matters at all. I’m glad it was handled quickly!
He deserves to rot in jail and receive the same treatment and worse.
Debbie says
To Minty,
Yeah, the reporting wasn’t the best. I’ll answer for you, the perverted POS is the baby’s dad. Believe it or not he was awarded custody of that poor baby boy!!??
That is rather telling that the baby’s “mom” doesn’t have custody, or didn’t want custody..either way she too is a sick POS!
No way she couldn’t have been aware that Robby is NOT normal, that he is a sick perverted baby molesting predator!
By the way, he is Robby JR. He should NEVER GET out of prison- period!