RACINE — An inadvertent discovery of disturbing sexual assault videos on a cell phone eventually led to the arrest of a 24-year-old Racine man, who now faces more than 600 years in prison.
Robert R. Reams is charged with 15 felony counts, including 10 for sexual assault of a child and five for possession of child sex abuse material (CSAM or child pornography), which carries a possible maximum prison term of 625 years and $1 million fine.
Reams is charged with two felony counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child younger than 12, five felony counts of second-degree sexual assault, three felony counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child younger than 13, and five felony counts of possession of CSAM.
Racine County Circuit Court records show that Reams is currently in custody on a $50,000 cash bond.
The criminal complaint: Sexual assault of a child under 12, possession of CSAM
Racine Police were dispatched to a city residence on Sept. 3, where they spoke with a man, who stated the defendant was a family friend who stayed at the home on occasion and was there at the time police were called.
Two of the man’s children were using Reams’s phone with his permission, the man said, when they saw some “disturbing videos,” that they showed to him. The man described the videos as pornographic in nature.
Reams consented to a search of his phone, and police found five videos in a folder named “hidden,” the complaint states. The videos depicted Reams allegedly performing sexual acts on an underage child. Reams admitted he made the recordings, but denied that he had touched the female in any way and “just recorded her while she slept.” He said the child didn’t know she had been recorded.
The detective who searched Reams’s phone also reported he found what he estimated to be hundreds of downloaded images and videos of child pornography that depicted images of pre-pubescent females.
Reams is due back in court on Sept. 13, for a 9 a.m. preliminary hearing.
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