Arkansas Judge Who Traded Reduced Sentences for Sex with Young, Male Defendants Resigns
Cross County District Judge Joe Boeckmann.
An Arkansas judge has resigned his position after thousands of nude photos of defendants who appeared before him in court were discovered on his computer.
Judge Joseph Boeckmann reportedly swapped sex with young, white, male defendants for reduced sentences of “community service” at his home. At least one of Boeckmann’s victims was under the age of 18. Beckmann allegedly gave his victims a hand-written note with his phone number accompanying the “community service” sentence.
Photos recovered from Boeckmann’s computer show that Boeckmann had a penchant for paddling his victims before posing them for nude photographs.
In a letter to the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, Cross County District Judge Joseph Boeckmann said that his resignation was effective immediately, and that he would never again seek a job as a local, county or state employee.
“They all depict young men, many naked who are in various poses inside the judge’s home and outside in his yard,” the letter states, adding that many of the men had received checks from the judge and had appeared before him as defendants. Boeckmann’s resignation came after the commission said in a May 5 letter to his lawyer that it was in the process of recovering as many as 4,500 photos.
“There are numerous photos of naked young men bending over after an apparent paddling,” the letter reads. “Please accept this as notice to not destroy [or] otherwise dispose of this paddle.”
Investigating authorities had asked that the paddle used to flog the young men not be destroyed. More on just a few of the victims’ stories that have emerged, from NBC:
In one case, a man described having a “sexual relationship” with the judge while he paid off fines that for which Boeckmann granted him extensions.
In another case, Boeckmann reduced a misdemeanor traffic violation and asked the defendant, identified in court documents as W.M., to bring three bags of cans to his home. After the judge offered him a drink — which he declined — “Boeckmann informed W.M. that he needed W.M. to pull 2 cans from the bags and bend over as if he were picking up the cans.”
The judge then instructed him “on how to pose and spread his legs farther apart,” the document states.
Boeckmann, who previously denied any no wrong doing, said that the photos were taken to “to corroborate participation in community service.”
[Boeckmann] was said to have singled out young white men with legal troubles and offered them to “community service” that involved picking up trash at Boeckmann’s house.
His Honor was said to have taken the opportunity to take pictures of the men as they bent over, and to have begun sexual relationships that indulged his penchant for spanking.
Episodes of licentious behavior, some of which are thought to have involved Boeckmann paying defendants, are alleged as far back as 1985, when he was a deputy prosecutor.
DC Executive Director David Sachar told Arkansas Online that though there are currently 12 alleged victims, there could be more than 100. […]
While over 1,000 photos have currently been recovered, Arkansas’ Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission Executive Director David Sachar says there are reportedly at least 3,400 more photos showing “acts of masturbation, naked young men bent over a desk or a bar, etc.”
The investigation has now been handed over to a special prosecutor who could bring criminal charges against Boeckmann.
Watch two news reports on the case, below.
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