Brecksville man strikes plea deal to avoid felony child porn charges

by Melissa Martin

A man who secretly recorded videos of his relatives and family friends, including a child, using the bathroom of his Brecksville home has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges.

As part of a plea deal, Robert Sabados, 46, avoided felony child pornography charges and instead was charged with attempted disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, a first-degree misdemeanor. Visiting Judge George Yost also dismissed two misdemeanor voyeurism charges as part of the plea deal.

Sabados was charged in 2019 after his ex-wife turned over several flash drives and an older model flip phone to Brecksville police. The woman claimed she was moving out of the house when she found the items in boxes located in the basement of their home.

Court records show the woman told police she purchased a device to recover deleted files from storage devices and found videos of herself and a child in the bathroom.

Investigators later confirmed that their search found seven potentially criminal images out of more than 8,400 files, according to court records. Several videos, they said, showed Sabados setting up the camera in his bathroom.

Defense attorney Larry Zukerman hired a forensic expert who examined the hard drive of Sabados’ ex-wife and found evidence that the video of the child could have been uploaded to her hard drive as early as 2012. He also pointed to text messages Sabados’ ex-wife sent him in August 2018 in which she demanded that he turn over the audio and visual recordings from the couple’s bathroom. She allegedly filed for divorce three weeks after those messages were sent.

Zukerman filed motions to suppress the images and dismiss the indictment, arguing that the messages and the expert report indicate that the woman knew about the videos far earlier than she claims. He also said the statue of limitations – six years for the felony charges and two years for the misdemeanors – began in 2012 and had expired.

Sabados is scheduled to appear for sentencing on Thursday, June 2. He faces a maximum sentence of six months in jail and is eligible for probation. ∞