From: Platte County Prosecuting Attorney "Eric Zahnd"
Date: January 21, 2010
Subject: Repeat sex offender gets maximum sentence; Prosecutor blasts Sentencing Commission recommendation
A repeat sex offender was sentenced to the maximum possible term of 35 years in prison on January 21, despite the recommendation of the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission that he receive only a 120 days of shock treatment. Robin “Scott” Roggenbuck, 57, received the sentence in Platte County Circuit Court after a jury found him guilty of five counts of possession of child pornography in December 2009.
Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said, “Thank goodness Judge Abe Shafer ignored the outrageous and shameful sentence recommended by the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission. This defendant sexually abused five different children during the 1980s and 1990s and then was convicted of possessing multiple images of child pornography. It is a disgrace that a state-sanctioned Commission would suggest a mere 120 days of ‘treatment’ is the correct sentence for such a man.”
Roggenbuck, a registered sex offender, was convicted of statutory sodomy in 1981. He was later convicted of multiple counts of child molestation in 1992.
Zahnd said Roggenbuck’s original offenses occurred in Washington State, where he victimized five children. |
Robin Roggenbuck
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Roggenbuck was convicted in Platte County of possessing pornographic images of young boys. Officers with the Platte City Police Department served a search warrant at Roggenbuck’s Platte City apartment on February 13, 2008. With the assistance of detectives assigned to the Platte County Sheriff’s Department Cyber Crimes Unit, officers seized Roggenbuck’s computer. An FBI employee assigned to the Heart of America Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory later found numerous illegal photographs on the computer.
After deliberating for less than one-half hour, the jury found Roggenbuck guilty. Zahnd’s office had charged Roggenbuck as a persistent offender, which increased his maximum possible punishment from 20 to 35 years in prison and permitted Judge Abe Shafer to set the length of Roggenbuck’s prison term.
As a part of the sentencing process, Shafer ordered a Sentencing Advisory Report, or SAR, to be completed. That report includes an offender risk score and a recommended sentence set by the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission, which was created by the Missouri Legislature. The Commission’s recommendations are not binding.
Despite Roggenbuck’s prior convictions for sexually abusing five children, the SAR concluded that his offender risk was “good.” A “good” score is the highest possible score, given to offenders the Commission believes are a low risk to the community. Based on the risk score, the Sentencing Advisory Commission’s recommendation was for 120 days of shock treatment.
Zahnd said, “It seems patently obvious that a man who has repeatedly victimized children over three decades should receive a very, very long prison sentence. Unbelievably, the Sentencing Advisory Commission somehow believes this kind of predator is a low risk to our community who should only spend four months in prison. People should demand the recommended sentences of this Commission be abolished.”
The case was investigated by the Platte City Police Department with the assistance of Platte County’s Cyber Crimes Task Force and the Heart of America Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory. It was prosecuted by First Assistant Mark Gibson and Assistant Prosecutor Chris Seufert, who is the assistant prosecutor assigned to the Cyber Crimes Unit.
Eric G. Zahnd
Platte County Prosecuting Attorney
415 Third Street
Suite 60
Platte City, Missouri 64079
(816) 858-3476
(816) 858-3472 (fax)
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