Psychologist with Miami-Dade Schools hoards child porn, distributes it online, cops say
A Miami-Dade County Public Schools psychologist has been arrested for possessing and distributing child pornography, police say.
Robert Lee Turner, 62, an autism specialist who was employed by the school district per his LinkedIn profile, was arrested after allegedly uploading two videos of child pornography to more than 50 users, according to the Miami-Dade Police Department, which announced his arrest Tuesday.
The department’s Special Response Team on Monday conducted a search of Turner’s home, where he had barricaded himself in a locked bathroom. Police arrested him and took him to Jackson South Medical Center for a medical evaluation. He was later booked at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and appeared in bond court Tuesday, where a judge set his bond at $28,000 and ordered him underhouse arrest, according to court records.
“Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) is deeply troubled by the disturbing allegations made against this individual. This type of behavior will not be tolerated. As such, the individual’s employment with the District has been terminated and he will be precluded from seeking future employment with M-DCPS,” the school district said in an email to the Herald.
The investigation began following a tip received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on May 28. A judge issued a search warrant on Aug. 7 for an Instagram account linked to the distribution of child pornography. Police traced the IP address and phone number associated with the account back to Turner, who later admitted to being the account owner, police said.
During the investigation, authorities discovered a photo showing a video library with 28 thumbnails to videos of child sexual abuse material, containing 205 files with approximately two hours of video content, police said. They also found group text threads discussing child pornography, in which Turner made comments like “yummy” and “nice f***” in response to videos of children.
The victims in videos and pictures are described as boys and girls ages 6 to 14.
Miami-Dade County Police said they are continuing the investigation.
