The former superintendent of the Tanque Verde Unified School District faces between five and nine years in federal prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to charges stemming from a planned trip to Mexico to have sex with a teenage boy.
Albert Thomas "Tom" Rogers, 51, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Phoenix to one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and one count of possession of child pornography. He will be sentenced Feb. 1 by U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver.
Rogers was arrested June 19 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the San Luis Port of Entry near Yuma as part of a sting operation targeting people looking to travel to Mexico to have sex with minors, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix.
He was indicted in June on the travel charge, and in October a superseding indictment added eight counts of possession of child pornography after more than 200 images were found in Rogers' home after he was arrested, court records show.
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Rogers, who was also a teacher and associate principal at the district's Emily Gray Junior High School, was hired by Tanque Verde in April 2007. He resigned from the district on June 23.
Rogers also unsuccessfully ran for Pima County school superintendent in 2008.
According to court records, Rogers had flown to Yuma to embark on a child-sex tour in Mexico that he had begun arranging online with undercover federal agents in December.
Using the screen name of "rawbear," Rogers contacted an online child-sex tourism business and had them e-mail him a tour reservation application, which he sent back in early February along with a check for $50 that was to serve as a reservation deposit, court records show.
The application, which included Rogers' name, address, age and telephone number, indicated he was looking for a 13- or 14-year-old boy. Under the preferred activities section, Rogers had "relaxation intimacy," court records show.
Rogers had originally intended to take his trip in late February but postponed the trip due to issues at work, court records show. In April he again contacted undercover agents and booked his trip for June 19-20 in Mexico, according to court records.
When Rogers arrived at Yuma International Airport, he was met by an undercover agent posing as a driver for the sex-tourism company, and the two traveled by car to the San Luis Port of Entry, where Rogers was arrested as he walked into Mexico, court records show.
Rogers told the undercover agent during their drive that he had been involved in a sex-tourism business in Thailand, where he also worked as an educator from 2001 to 2004, court records show.
A search of Rogers' home found a room that included sexual paraphernalia and devices, a camcorder on a tripod and various DVDs and tapes, court records show.
