Retired police officer charged with child porn in Sarasota, cops say

A 65-year-old Sarasota man, which public records indicate is a former Virginia police officer, was arrested Wednesday on 18 counts of possession of child pornography, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office.

Richard Estes, of 901 Jolanda Circle in Venice, was booked into the Sarasota County jail and remains in custody without bond.

According to public records, Estes is a retired police officer, last working for the city of Alexandria, Va.. It isn’t clear when Estes retired, but he was listed on the police department’s employee page in 2014 as the department’s facilities security manager.

The city of Alexandria did not immediately confirm Estes’ former status.

Deputies say they were tipped off by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that Estes was downloading child porn images from a “Jailbait” forum of prepubescent nude girls.

On Wednesday, detectives executed a search warrant on his home and interviewed Estes who admitted he viewed the images and that he had gone down a “rabbit hole,” according to the report.

Detectives found 18 images of child porn on his laptop computer and Estes was charged with 18 counts, according to the sheriff’s office.

“I need help. ... I am so embarrassed. ... My life is over,” Estes told detectives, according to the report.

This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 12:44 PM.