Ex-school psychologist who had child sex videos gets long prison sentence

A former Miami-Dade school psychologist convicted of possessing and sending child sex abuse videos was sentenced Wednesday morning to decades in prison.

Read more Ex-school psychologist who had child sex videos gets long prison sentence

Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Cristina Miranda sentenced Robert Lee Turner, 64, a now-fired autism specialist who was employed by the school district, to 30 years in prison followed by five years of sex-offender probation.

“It weighs heavily on the court that the defendant was a child psychologist,” Miranda said, adding that Turner did not report the sex-abuse material, which jurors saw and depicted children suffering.

In August, a six-person jury found Turner guilty of three counts of promoting sexual performance by a child and five counts of possession of promoting sexual performance by a child. Turner was facing a maximum of up to 75 years behind bars.

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

Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Turner to no less than 25 years, citing the explicit nature of chats that Turner participated in. Turner’s defense attorneys, however, requested that Turner be sentenced to just over four years in prison, the same sentence recommended by a probation officer who evaluated Turner.

Before the judge announced the sentence, Turner, who was in orange jail attire, stood to address the court. In a mousy voice, he said he worked hard his whole life, attending graduate school and earning his PhD. He also said he is “someone who follows rules” and had no prior criminal history.

As Turner spoke, Judge Miranda stopped him and asked him if he was going to address the crimes of which he was convicted.

“I’m innocent,” Turner said in a soft tone. “… That’s not something I’m into or something that I watched. That’s not me.”

During the hearing, prosecutor Stewart Hedrick highlighted how the offenses were compounded by Turner being a psychologist who dealt with the “most vulnerable children in the school system” — and who was mandated to report child abuse.

But the transcripts of the chats that Turner was involved in, Hedrick said, were a “shock to my conscious.” In one chat, he said he was contacting organizations in the Dominican Republic to travel to the island nation to work with children with special needs. Turner also asked a man to create explicit content of his minor relatives, according to the prosecutor.

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“As a mandatory reporter of child abuse, the defendant had a … responsibility, and he did the exact opposite,” Hedrick said. “The defendant in those chats is trying to bring more child sex abuse material to the world.”

Attorney Anthony Eugenis, however, argued that Turner wasn’t on trial for his chats. He pointed out that Turner has never been accused of abusing any of the children he counseled throughout his career in Miami-Dade, Puerto Rico, Massachusetts and New York.

Turner’s license to practice as a psychologist was suspended after his arrest, state records show.

“The State is essentially asking this court to take Mr. Turner’s life …,” Eugenis said. “Impose a sentence that is justice, but that also applies mercy.”

Videos circulated in chats

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.

At trial, Turner claimed that his Instagram account was hacked. The victims in the 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.

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

During the trial, Hedrick cast doubt on Turner’s hacking claim because the material spanned several months and evidence was found on several phone applications.

But Eugenis told jurors Turner was innocent — and that investigators didn’t initially find any illegal material on Turner’s phone. The attorney also said messages that Turner sent in a chat could be explained by Turner role-playing with other adults.

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