Lane County Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Sexually Abusing Children, Distributing Child Pornography

EUGENE, Ore.—A Lane County, Oregon man was sentenced to federal prison today after sexually abusing multiple children entrusted to a daycare run by his wife, possessing thousands of images and videos depicting child sexual abuse, and distributing child pornography.

Eric Wade Rogers, 55, was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison and five years’ supervised release.

According to court documents, in June 2017, an undercover law enforcement agent was on a website commonly used to trade child pornography. While investigating another target, the agent identified two online photo albums containing photos of minor girls shared by Rogers’ account. Four days later, Rogers uploaded two more albums containing covertly-taken photos of a minor girl who appeared in the first albums. Rogers wrote various comments on the photos including “I really miss playing with her” and “hot sexy little body.”

The undercover agent initiated a ruse to chat and email with Rogers and determine if he had in fact made sexual contact with any minors. In these conversations, Rogers admitted to touching and kissing one of the children. He further admitted he was no longer allowed to be alone with the child, told the agent that the child attended his wife’s daycare, and that “things kind of went south.” In subsequent conversations, Rogers provided explicit details of how he sexually abused the child.

On June 14, 2017, investigators obtained and executed a search warrant on Rogers’ Eugene residence while he was traveling for work. Rogers’ wife confirmed running a daycare in their home and recalled previous inappropriate conduct by Rogers which she reported to law enforcement. On the same day, investigators contacted Rogers in California. He admitted to possessing thousands of images and videos depicting child sexual abuse, including some that portrayed sadistic conduct involving toddlers. He again admitted to abusing the child referenced in his online chats with the undercover agent as well as a second child.

On June 15, 2017, Rogers was charged by criminal complaint with distribution of child pornography. Later, on November 19, 2019, he was charged by criminal information with the same. On December 2, 2021, Rogers waived indictment and pleaded guilty to the single charge.

All families affiliated Rogers’ wife’s in-home daycare have been contacted by law enforcement.

U.S. Attorney Scott Erik Asphaug of the District of Oregon made the announcement.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with assistance from the FBI and the Eugene Police Department. It was prosecuted by William McLaren and Amy Potter, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Oregon.

Anyone who has information about the physical or online exploitation of children are encouraged to contact HSI at (866) 347-2423 or submit a tip online at www.ice.gov/tips.

Federal law defines child pornography as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor. Child sexual abuse material depicts actual crimes being committed against children. Not only do these images and videos document victims’ exploitation and abuse, but when shared across the internet, child victims suffer re-victimization each time the image of their abuse is viewed. To learn more, please visit the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s website at www.missingkids.org.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Justice Department to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.