https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2018/12/26/dojo-pizzas-loren-copp-found-guilty-in-child-sex-case
Dojo Pizza's Loren Copp Found Guilty in Child Sex Case
Posted By Doyle Murphy on Wed, Dec 26, 2018 at 12:22 PM
The karate-teaching former owner of Dojo Pizza has been found guilty on eight of nine child porn charges.
U.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig announced her verdict this morning, seven months after the conclusion of Loren Copp's trial.
Fleissig said she believed the teen victims who testified in April during the ten-week trial, and she rejected the ex-pastor's claims he was targeted in a complex conspiracy.
"These are brave victims," U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen told reporters after. "These are very brave victims."
Copp, 49, was arrested in April 2016 following a long-running criminal investigation. He was accused of manipulating and sexually abusing underage girls who lived with him in the old Bevo Mill church he operated as a martial arts studio, school, community center and pizzeria.
Copp was the subject of an RFT cover story in December 2015.
During the trial, federal prosecutors showed how the ex-pastor groomed, tricked and coerced young girls who ended up in his hands because they had nowhere else to go.
In some cases, he threatened them with homelessness. In others, he assumed fake online identities, posing as a thirteen-year-old girl to goad his victims into sexualized games of truth or dare. He also pretended to be a school enforcement officer, ordering one of the girls in emails to submit to sex acts with Copp. If she didn't, the fake enforcement officer threatened to send one of her "guys" to sexually assault her.
"The main guy I use is twelve inches and the size of my arm. LOL," Copp, posing at the enforcement officer, wrote in of the emails to the young teen. "She should enjoy that."
FBI agents and St. Louis police raided Copp's building multiple times in the fall of 2015, seizing computer hard drives that would ultimately reveal a cache of twisted photos dating back years. The images of child pornography included pics of underage girls, who had stayed with the ex-pastor while their parents struggled with poverty or drug abuse or were incarcerated.
Two of the girls had lived with Copp nearly a decade, so long that he introduced them to people as his daughters. They originally moved in with him and his wife after their mother lost her apartment. One of the girls said Copp started coercing her into sex at age eleven or twelve. She testified that his wife walked in on them one day in 2013. An abuse claim was filed against Copp shortly after. He subsequently split with his wife and moved the girls into the converted church.
The prosecution, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Winfield, produced photos from Copp's computer of a man sexually assaulting the older girl in the master bedroom of his former home. The man's face wasn't visible, but prosecutors said you could tell it was him by his round belly and the karate tape on his foot. Also, the girl testified that he was the one in the picture. Judge Fleissig said she believed it was in fact Copp in the photos.
The abuse continued in the church, where Copp opened up a restaurant called Dojo Pizza. He also took in more girls, abusing them as well, authorities say. Winfield and Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Lang were able to connect him to a series of photos and messages he solicited while posing as teenage "Chrissy."
Chrissy frequently asked the girls for naked, explicit photos and asked them to perform sex acts to or in front of "Grandpa" — one of their nicknames for Copp.
Internet protocol addresses and accounts traced back to Copp, and investigators found images the girls had sent to their supposed young friend saved on his hard drive.
He represented himself in the case, casting aside his attorneys less than two weeks before trial. The move surely hurt him, but it also allowed him to personally cross examine his victims. He tried to claim someone else was behind the Chrissy account and he was targeted by a vindictive former volunteer at Dojo Pizza, a St. Louis detective and possibly others who somehow managed to plant child porn on his computers. Fleissig didn't buy it.
She found him guilty on all but one count, a charge of using interstate facilities for coercion of a minor in which the judge says she could not determine if specific acts occurred while the girl was still under the age of fifteen years old.
Copp, dressed in a maroon sweater and black slacks, said little during the proceedings. His father sat stoically in the front row on the left while Jensen, investigators and attorneys filled the right side of the courtroom.
Fleissig set sentencing for April 5, 2019. Copp faces a minimum of 15 years on three of the charges, but the judge could stack them together. He faces a maximum of life in prison on other charges. He previously rejected a plea offer of twenty years.
We welcome tips and feedback. Email the author at [email protected] or follow on Twitter at @DoyleMurphy.
Tags: Dojo Pizza, Loren Copp, St. Louis, U.S. Attorney, Bevo Mill, Missouri, Image
Dojo Pizza's Loren Copp Found Guilty in Child Sex Case
Posted By Doyle Murphy on Wed, Dec 26, 2018 at 12:22 PM
The karate-teaching former owner of Dojo Pizza has been found guilty on eight of nine child porn charges.
U.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig announced her verdict this morning, seven months after the conclusion of Loren Copp's trial.
Fleissig said she believed the teen victims who testified in April during the ten-week trial, and she rejected the ex-pastor's claims he was targeted in a complex conspiracy.
"These are brave victims," U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen told reporters after. "These are very brave victims."
Copp, 49, was arrested in April 2016 following a long-running criminal investigation. He was accused of manipulating and sexually abusing underage girls who lived with him in the old Bevo Mill church he operated as a martial arts studio, school, community center and pizzeria.
Copp was the subject of an RFT cover story in December 2015.
During the trial, federal prosecutors showed how the ex-pastor groomed, tricked and coerced young girls who ended up in his hands because they had nowhere else to go.
In some cases, he threatened them with homelessness. In others, he assumed fake online identities, posing as a thirteen-year-old girl to goad his victims into sexualized games of truth or dare. He also pretended to be a school enforcement officer, ordering one of the girls in emails to submit to sex acts with Copp. If she didn't, the fake enforcement officer threatened to send one of her "guys" to sexually assault her.
"The main guy I use is twelve inches and the size of my arm. LOL," Copp, posing at the enforcement officer, wrote in of the emails to the young teen. "She should enjoy that."
FBI agents and St. Louis police raided Copp's building multiple times in the fall of 2015, seizing computer hard drives that would ultimately reveal a cache of twisted photos dating back years. The images of child pornography included pics of underage girls, who had stayed with the ex-pastor while their parents struggled with poverty or drug abuse or were incarcerated.
Two of the girls had lived with Copp nearly a decade, so long that he introduced them to people as his daughters. They originally moved in with him and his wife after their mother lost her apartment. One of the girls said Copp started coercing her into sex at age eleven or twelve. She testified that his wife walked in on them one day in 2013. An abuse claim was filed against Copp shortly after. He subsequently split with his wife and moved the girls into the converted church.
The prosecution, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Winfield, produced photos from Copp's computer of a man sexually assaulting the older girl in the master bedroom of his former home. The man's face wasn't visible, but prosecutors said you could tell it was him by his round belly and the karate tape on his foot. Also, the girl testified that he was the one in the picture. Judge Fleissig said she believed it was in fact Copp in the photos.
The abuse continued in the church, where Copp opened up a restaurant called Dojo Pizza. He also took in more girls, abusing them as well, authorities say. Winfield and Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Lang were able to connect him to a series of photos and messages he solicited while posing as teenage "Chrissy."
Chrissy frequently asked the girls for naked, explicit photos and asked them to perform sex acts to or in front of "Grandpa" — one of their nicknames for Copp.
Internet protocol addresses and accounts traced back to Copp, and investigators found images the girls had sent to their supposed young friend saved on his hard drive.
He represented himself in the case, casting aside his attorneys less than two weeks before trial. The move surely hurt him, but it also allowed him to personally cross examine his victims. He tried to claim someone else was behind the Chrissy account and he was targeted by a vindictive former volunteer at Dojo Pizza, a St. Louis detective and possibly others who somehow managed to plant child porn on his computers. Fleissig didn't buy it.
She found him guilty on all but one count, a charge of using interstate facilities for coercion of a minor in which the judge says she could not determine if specific acts occurred while the girl was still under the age of fifteen years old.
Copp, dressed in a maroon sweater and black slacks, said little during the proceedings. His father sat stoically in the front row on the left while Jensen, investigators and attorneys filled the right side of the courtroom.
Fleissig set sentencing for April 5, 2019. Copp faces a minimum of 15 years on three of the charges, but the judge could stack them together. He faces a maximum of life in prison on other charges. He previously rejected a plea offer of twenty years.
We welcome tips and feedback. Email the author at [email protected] or follow on Twitter at @DoyleMurphy.
Tags: Dojo Pizza, Loren Copp, St. Louis, U.S. Attorney, Bevo Mill, Missouri, Image
https://fox2now.com/2018/12/26/dojo-pizza-owner-convicted-of-sex-crimes-against-children/
Dojo Pizza owner convicted of sex crimes against children
Posted 11:30 am, December 26, 2018, by Chris Hayes, Katie Kormann and Staff Writer, Updated at 04:21PM, December 26, 2018
ST. LOUIS – Brave young women got justice Wednesday as a judge found a former pastor and owner of a south St. Louis martial arts studio and pizzeria guilty of sex crimes.
Judge Audrey Fleissig said Loren Copp used five young women, who were minors at the time, for sex and child pornography.
“These are very brave victims. They always are in these types of cases. They’re tough cases but they went in there and testified and the judge believed them and that’s the most important thing," said US Attorney Jeffrey Jensen.
Copp, 49, was accused of producing and possessing child pornography and using interstate facilities to coerce a minor to engage in sexual acts -- nine counts in all. He was convicted on all counts except the use of interstate facilities charge.
“Their testimony was pivotal," Jensen said. "Of course, it’s supported by all of the other evidence but their testimony was extremely important and we’re grateful for them and their bravery.”
Dojo Pizza was a combination restaurant and martial arts studio, located in the Bevo neighborhood, that operated as a non-profit to support free karate classes.
According to investigators, Copp groomed two girls at his business and then sexually abused them multiple times per week. Copp also took pictures of his victims while he raped them. This had been going on since 2009.
Police responded to Dojo Pizza on Morganford Avenue in the fall of 2015 in response to calls Copp was contributing to the delinquency of a minor and endangering the welfare of a child. At the time, Copp told Fox 2 police said his building was not up to code and he had an unlocked handgun which endangered his children's lives.
Dojo Pizza was raided the following month after a third young girl came forward to accuse Copp. Police found child pornography on Copp's computers during the raid.
“People need to understand that the FBI, the St. Louis (Metropolitan) Police Department, and ICE, and our office will pursue them aggressively as long as it takes," Jensen said. "It doesn’t matter how long it takes.”
Copp represented himself in the 10-day bench trial, which ended in April. Copp had been in jail since then awaiting the judge's decision.
The judge spoke for nearly an hour Wednesday about Copp’s sex crimes, saying he set up a fake Facebook profile, pretending to be a 13-year-old girl in order to trick other girls into taking sexual pictures and to have sex with “daddy.” The judge said Copp also sent fake emails to a child pretending to be a school enforcement officer to get what he wanted.
Copp faces between 15 years and life in prison when he's sentenced April 5, 2019.
Filed in: News
Dojo Pizza owner convicted of sex crimes against children
Posted 11:30 am, December 26, 2018, by Chris Hayes, Katie Kormann and Staff Writer, Updated at 04:21PM, December 26, 2018
ST. LOUIS – Brave young women got justice Wednesday as a judge found a former pastor and owner of a south St. Louis martial arts studio and pizzeria guilty of sex crimes.
Judge Audrey Fleissig said Loren Copp used five young women, who were minors at the time, for sex and child pornography.
“These are very brave victims. They always are in these types of cases. They’re tough cases but they went in there and testified and the judge believed them and that’s the most important thing," said US Attorney Jeffrey Jensen.
Copp, 49, was accused of producing and possessing child pornography and using interstate facilities to coerce a minor to engage in sexual acts -- nine counts in all. He was convicted on all counts except the use of interstate facilities charge.
“Their testimony was pivotal," Jensen said. "Of course, it’s supported by all of the other evidence but their testimony was extremely important and we’re grateful for them and their bravery.”
Dojo Pizza was a combination restaurant and martial arts studio, located in the Bevo neighborhood, that operated as a non-profit to support free karate classes.
According to investigators, Copp groomed two girls at his business and then sexually abused them multiple times per week. Copp also took pictures of his victims while he raped them. This had been going on since 2009.
Police responded to Dojo Pizza on Morganford Avenue in the fall of 2015 in response to calls Copp was contributing to the delinquency of a minor and endangering the welfare of a child. At the time, Copp told Fox 2 police said his building was not up to code and he had an unlocked handgun which endangered his children's lives.
Dojo Pizza was raided the following month after a third young girl came forward to accuse Copp. Police found child pornography on Copp's computers during the raid.
“People need to understand that the FBI, the St. Louis (Metropolitan) Police Department, and ICE, and our office will pursue them aggressively as long as it takes," Jensen said. "It doesn’t matter how long it takes.”
Copp represented himself in the 10-day bench trial, which ended in April. Copp had been in jail since then awaiting the judge's decision.
The judge spoke for nearly an hour Wednesday about Copp’s sex crimes, saying he set up a fake Facebook profile, pretending to be a 13-year-old girl in order to trick other girls into taking sexual pictures and to have sex with “daddy.” The judge said Copp also sent fake emails to a child pretending to be a school enforcement officer to get what he wanted.
Copp faces between 15 years and life in prison when he's sentenced April 5, 2019.
Filed in: News
https://www.kmov.com/news/former-pastor-and-owner-of-dojo-pizza-found-guilty-on/article_a1570e32-092d-11e9-a14a-672e3c2ea163.html
Former pastor and owner of Dojo Pizza found guilty on 8 counts of sex crimes against children
KMOV.com Staff
Posted Dec 26, 2018
ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) -- The former owner of a south St. Louis pizza shop has been found guilty of eight separate counts of sex crimes against underage girls.
A federal judge announced the verdict in the trial of Loren Copp, who is also a former pastor, Wednesday in the U.S. District Court.
According to court documents, Copp rejected a plea deal that would have sent him to prison for 15 years. He could now face up to life in prison when he is sentenced April 5.
Copp is the former youth pastor and owner of Dojo Pizza, and at trial, claimed to be a trusted member of the community.
Prosecutors argued he used his position as a business owner, martial arts instructor and community activist to gain the trust of parents and gain access to their children.
He was arrested in April 2016, accused of possessing child pornography and attempting to produce it over a six-year period.
According to prosecutors, several underage girls lived at Dojo Pizza, which is located on Morganford in the Bevo Mill neighborhood. Copp either had sole custody or care of the girls because their parents were incarcerated or homeless, authorities said.
Copp allegedly forced the girls to work at the pizza shop and did not pay them appropriately or provide consistent food. He is also accused of threatening to kick the girls out when they didn’t work, which would leave them homeless.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Copp "groomed" the girls for abuse beginning in 2009.
"The grooming process began when defendant Copp began touching the victims’ buttocks while playing “the butt game,” which then led to him touching their vaginas and breasts. Eventually, Copp began having sex with both girls, and he would record the sex acts with a cell phone or video recorder," the release said.
He is also accused of making the girls sleep in beds with bed bugs. The girls reportedly contracted lice while under Copp’s care. Prosecutors allege Copp did not allow them to seek medical treatment.
Police and the FBI raided Dojo Pizza in November and December 2015 and said they found images of child pornography on a hard drive. One victim told authorities she performed a sex act with Copp when she was 12-years-old.
At the same time authorities were investigating the alleged child pornography they were also investigating an alleged human trafficking ring.
When Copp spoke with News 4 in February of 2016 he denied all allegations.
In April of 2017, was charged with five additional accounts related to abuse of a minor.
That indictment alleged Copp tried to get two girls to convince an underage girl to expose her breasts online.
His conviction on three counts of child pornography and the three counts of attempted production of child pornography all carry 15-year minimums.
Copp was also convicted on two counts of criminal enticement of a minor, each of which can carry up to a life sentence.
“The bravery of the victims who testified at trial was essential to this case,” said U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen. “Without them and the relentless work of the investigative and trial teams, these verdicts would not have been rendered.”
Copyright 2018 KMOV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved
Tags
Local St. Louis St. Louis County Crime Loren Copp
Former pastor and owner of Dojo Pizza found guilty on 8 counts of sex crimes against children
KMOV.com Staff
Posted Dec 26, 2018
ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) -- The former owner of a south St. Louis pizza shop has been found guilty of eight separate counts of sex crimes against underage girls.
A federal judge announced the verdict in the trial of Loren Copp, who is also a former pastor, Wednesday in the U.S. District Court.
According to court documents, Copp rejected a plea deal that would have sent him to prison for 15 years. He could now face up to life in prison when he is sentenced April 5.
Copp is the former youth pastor and owner of Dojo Pizza, and at trial, claimed to be a trusted member of the community.
Prosecutors argued he used his position as a business owner, martial arts instructor and community activist to gain the trust of parents and gain access to their children.
He was arrested in April 2016, accused of possessing child pornography and attempting to produce it over a six-year period.
According to prosecutors, several underage girls lived at Dojo Pizza, which is located on Morganford in the Bevo Mill neighborhood. Copp either had sole custody or care of the girls because their parents were incarcerated or homeless, authorities said.
Copp allegedly forced the girls to work at the pizza shop and did not pay them appropriately or provide consistent food. He is also accused of threatening to kick the girls out when they didn’t work, which would leave them homeless.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Copp "groomed" the girls for abuse beginning in 2009.
"The grooming process began when defendant Copp began touching the victims’ buttocks while playing “the butt game,” which then led to him touching their vaginas and breasts. Eventually, Copp began having sex with both girls, and he would record the sex acts with a cell phone or video recorder," the release said.
He is also accused of making the girls sleep in beds with bed bugs. The girls reportedly contracted lice while under Copp’s care. Prosecutors allege Copp did not allow them to seek medical treatment.
Police and the FBI raided Dojo Pizza in November and December 2015 and said they found images of child pornography on a hard drive. One victim told authorities she performed a sex act with Copp when she was 12-years-old.
At the same time authorities were investigating the alleged child pornography they were also investigating an alleged human trafficking ring.
When Copp spoke with News 4 in February of 2016 he denied all allegations.
In April of 2017, was charged with five additional accounts related to abuse of a minor.
That indictment alleged Copp tried to get two girls to convince an underage girl to expose her breasts online.
His conviction on three counts of child pornography and the three counts of attempted production of child pornography all carry 15-year minimums.
Copp was also convicted on two counts of criminal enticement of a minor, each of which can carry up to a life sentence.
“The bravery of the victims who testified at trial was essential to this case,” said U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen. “Without them and the relentless work of the investigative and trial teams, these verdicts would not have been rendered.”
Copyright 2018 KMOV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved
Tags
Local St. Louis St. Louis County Crime Loren Copp