A former teacher at St. Elizabeth High School pleaded guilty in federal court Monday distributing child pornography.
Stephen Gregory Strobel, 26, of St. Elizabeth, pleaded guilty to the charge contained in a Nov. 5, 2014, federal indictment.
In April 2014 a Wooster, Ohio woman discovered that her 13-year-old daughter had engaged in a sexually explicit Internet chat with Strobel. On May 12, 2014, investigators contacted Strobel at St. Elizabeth High School. Strobel admitted he had exchanged pornographic photos with the 13-year-old victim and that she had sent him pornographic photos and a video.
Strobel also told investigators that he had traded photos of underage girls with various people online. He never asked the ages of the children depicted, but estimated them to be between the ages of 13 and 15. Strobel estimated that he had received 15 photographs of underage children, the youngest being five or six years old. He stated that he had sent approximately 10 photos of underage children to other people and had also shared videos depicting underage children.
Investigators identified a video and approximately 500 images of child pornography on Strobel’s iPhone.
Under federal statutes, Strobel is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 20 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.