CLEVELAND -- Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason said Darin Casper, 49, of Cleveland, pleaded guilty today to five counts of gross sexual imposition, 18 counts of pandering sexually-oriented matter involving a minor, 131 counts of illegal use of a minor in a nudity-oriented material or performance, and one count of possessing criminal tools.
He faces a maximum 1,205 years in prison. Judge Robert McClelland is scheduled to sentence him at 10 a.m. Oct. 16.
He will be required to register as a Tier III Sexual Offender.
Between Nov. 28, 1998, and May 4, 2012, Casper created, downloaded, possessed, and/or traded files containing child pornography, according to Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason.
Casper's case was ultimately uncovered by the Utah Attorney General's Office and the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
In January 2012, law enforcement uncovered a suspect in Utah trading child pornography. A search warrant was executed at the Utah suspect's residence where he subsequently admitted to downloading and sharing child pornography, as well as exchanging the child pornography with other individuals via e-mail.
A search of the Utah suspect's e-mail account revealed multiple e-mails from Darin Casper containing child pornography.
Darin's wife, Rita, had been running a daycare out of their Baltic Road home since June of 2000. The home daycare was licensed by Cuyahoga County and received public funds to care for poor children while their parents worked or attended school.
Officials from the Child Care Provider Certification Unit first learned of the investigation into Darin on April 16 and the daycare was voluntarily closed by Rita on April 17.
On May 4, 2012, a search warrant was executed at Casper's home located on Baltic Road in Cleveland by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
That's the same day ICAC learned that a daycare had been run out of the home.
Items subsequently seized included: two computer towers, 417 CD's, seven cell phones, five laptops, three flash drives, 106 floppy disks, three digital cameras, 55 VHS tapes, one media card, and three hard drives.
The ICAC Task Force conducted a preliminary forensic examination of the materials seized and discovered approximately 1,500 child pornography images and videos including images and videos produced by Casper at his home on Baltic Road.
Casper was arrested by members of the Ohio ICAC Task Force with assistance from the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office on May 4, 2012.
On May 11, 2012, Casper was indicted on 150 charges including 146 counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material or performance, three counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor, and one count of possessing criminal tools.
In the months following Casper's arrest, efforts were made to identify and interview children who passed through the Casper house over the years.
On Aug. 28, 2012, Casper was re-indicted in a 171-count indictment. The new indictment included charges of gross sexual imposition and kidnapping.
Mason said, "Darin Casper's vile, unforgivable acts destroyed the innocence of countless young children. Our new technology, such as the ICAC Mobile Forensic Lab, will help in the fight to apprehend sick minded predators like Casper and put them behind bars where they belong."
Mason is the chairman of the state-wide Ohio ICAC Task Force.
WKYC-TV