Former Miami-Dade school psychologist convicted of having child sex abuse videos

A former Miami-Dade school psychologist was found guilty Thursday afternoon of possessing child sex abuse videos — and sharing some of those videos in a group chat.

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Robert Lee Turner, 64, a now-fired autism specialist who was employed by the school district, didn’t react when the verdict was read. He was convicted of three counts of promoting sexual performance by a child and five counts of possession of promoting sexual performance by a child.

The six-person jury deliberated for just under two hours. A corrections officer handcuffed Turner after jurors left the courtroom.

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Turner was arrested in 2024 after allegedly uploading two videos to more than 50 users. Investigators also discovered 205 files of child sexual abuse material, including about two hours of video content.

He was placed on the least-restrictive form of house arrest as he awaited his trial.

At trial, Turner claimed that his Instagram was hacked. The victims in videos, police say, were boys and girls ages 6 to 14.

The investigation into Turner began following a tip received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Police traced the IP address and phone number associated with an Instagram account back to Turner, who later admitted to being the account owner, police said.

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In a group text threads discussing the videos, Turner made comments like “yummy” and “nice f***,” according to investigators.

Standing in front of the jury, prosecutor Stewart Hedrick urged jurors to find Turner guilty. He cast doubt on Turner’s hacking claim because the material spanned back several months and evidence was found on several phone applications.

Hedrick also pointed out that Turner, a psychologist, had an obligation to report any child abuse he came across and did not.

“Maybe he didn’t want to get arrested. Maybe he didn’t want to face the consequences,” Hedrick said. “But certainly because he didn’t want to lose access to it.”

Pacing in front of jurors, defense attorney Anthony Eugenis called the allegations against Turner a “disgusting, despicable crime” — but said his client was innocent.

Investigators, Eugenis said, didn’t initially find any illegal material on Turner’s phone. The attorney also said messages Turner sent in a chat could be explained by Turner role-playing with other adults.

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“The horror of a crime is not evidence of who committed it,” Eugenis said.

Miami Herald staff writer Milena Malaver contributed to this report