A Massachusetts youth football coach arrested over charges of possession of child pornography posted a picture of himself in bed with young boys in bed with him on Facebook.
Robert Wharton, 31, who is openly gay was a staff with the Kennedy Community School and Neighborhood Council from December 2019 till July.
Besides teaching daily for three-hour for an after school program called K-Lo Cubs for children in the junior kindergarten and kindergarten, Wharton was also a volunteer assistant coach with Somerville Pop Warner Football.
Even though Wharton had no experience as a coach or had played football professionally, he was still accepted as "they were desperate for a volunteer," according to an online comment.
According to the documents filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts, the Cambridge Police was alerted about Robert Wharton after investigators spotted a payment via the Kik message soliciting access to child pornography.
The police then carried out a search at Wharton's apartment where they found images and videos of naked children on Robert Wharton's phone. The investigators also found a pornographic video that was sent to Wharton on the Telegram messaging app that showed a young child performing oral sex on an adult, Cambridge Day reported.
If found guilty of receiving child porn, Robert Wharton will be sentenced to at least five years to 20 years in jail, a fine of $250,000, and will be supervised throughout his life. The charges are similar in case of possession of child pornography.
A blogger, who accused Robert Wharton of being a pedophile, observed that the 31-year-old football coach and teacher intentionally sought out children and especially targeted single-mother with kids.
The blog revealed that Wharton held sleepovers at his house and used his "big brother" role to get close to kids.
In light of his arrest, the image of him posing with children posted on Facebook, including one with him on a bed with a young boy, many observed was disturbing.
Who is Robert Wharton?
A closer look at the posts and pictures posted on the Facebook page of Robert Wharton reveals that he never had any experience of the sport he coached and in fact was a cook who sold homemade empanadas and held sales for chocolate-covered strawberries during Valentine's Day,
His other posts on social media are mostly are filled with pictures of him posing with children, besides posts filled with love for family. He also has posts whining about nobody wanting to his friends and how disappointed he felt about "fake people who called themselves my friends."
He has Facebook posts in support of Black Lives Matter including racist offenses by police. His recent posts, however, requested people to look at police as people who cared about black lives.
Members of the local community can reach out to the Cambridge Police Department on Facebook or call 617-748-3274 for any questions, concerns or information.
