Local man charged with multiple counts of rape faces new sexual exploitation of a child charges

Taisen Joe Lopez Scharer | Bannock County Jail POCATELLO — Taisen Joe Lopez Scharer, 20, who was charged in September in the rape and impregnation of a teen, faces new charges related to producing and possessing child porn. According to a 134-page court document, the victim in this new case is a teen girl from Iowa, whose mother contacted the Pocatello Police Department on Jan. 30, after finding her daughter had sent explicit videos to Scharer. The mother said she happened to have her daughter’s phone and began to look through it when she found the videos had been sent via Snapchat. Scharer had also sent videos to the victim of him masturbating, according to the court document. The mother said she had looked up who Scharer is and found an article detailing Scharer’s other case, which includes four felony counts of rape. RELATED | Pocatello man charged with statutory rape after allegedly impregnating teen The mother had a conversation with Scharer and told him to leave her daughter alone, according to court documents. The mother pretended to be the victim, but Scharer figured it out and stopped responding. Aside from Snapchat, an officer asked the mother about other forms of communication Scharer had with the victim, such as Instagram, but she said she was unsure, according to the court documents. The mother said the victim has high-functioning autism and said her daughter is developmentally similar to a younger child than her real age. The next day, the officer was notified by Snapchat that the accounts Scharer and the victim used were preserved, and the data was available for them. On April 11, the officer received a package from the victim’s mother, which included the phone her daughter used to communicate with Scharer and a signed consent to search form. Most of the court documents detail the conversations between Scharer and the victim, with the earliest conversations dating back to December. 12, 2023. The conversations go from sharing videos from Instagram to sexting and swapping nude images. Part of the text conversation involves Scharer discussing his other case with the victim on Dec. 9, 2024, according to court documents. According to the coiurt documents, Scharer stated his hopes to have the case dismissed and how the victim’s parents, “were okay with but (I guess) they didn’t want me to move out.” One of the images detailed in the text conversations showed the victim topless. Sharer, 20, has been charged with two felony counts of producing child porn and two felony counts of possessing the explicit content. He appeared for a preliminary hearing at 2:15 p.m. Aug. 27 before Magistrate Judge Aaron Thompson. No other court dates are currently listed. Though Scharer has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty. If he is found guilty, he faces up to 80 years in prison and or a fine of up to $120,000. The post Local man charged with multiple counts of rape faces new sexual exploitation of a child charges appeared first on East Idaho News.
Source: eastidahonews.com