Ex-Fugitive Pleads Guilty to Child Porn
by Shannon Tan
Originally published by the Indianapolis Star, July 16, 2003
Eric Franklin Rosser, a former Bloomington musician who once played with John Mellencamp's band, has pleaded guilty to child pornography charges.
Under a plea agreement filed Monday, Rosser—the first child pornography suspect to make the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list—will be sentenced to between 188 and 235 months in federal prison.
Rosser, 51, who was extradited to the United States from Thailand in October, had been scheduled to go on trial next Monday. He is being held in the Marion County Jail and declined a request for an interview Tuesday. His sentencing date has not been set.
Rosser was first arrested in Bangkok in February 2000. FBI agents and Royal Thai police searched his music studio and found a videotape of him molesting a Thai girl, as well as more than 100 photos of nude children.
A pianist for Bangkok's Oriental hotel, Rosser—who married a Thai woman—ran a music school for children. He also admitted to being a pedophile.
"I have always felt like a child who never grew up," Rosser wrote in a statement after his arrest on Feb. 9, 2000. The videotapes were made, he said, so he could relive the sex acts repeatedly. "I am more of a voyeur than child molester."
Rosser posted bond and fled. He underwent plastic surgery and traveled with fake passports.
The Fox television show "America's Most Wanted" says tips from viewers led authorities to Spain, France and Amsterdam, Netherlands, where tourists had seen him playing piano on a keyboard attached to a motorcycle.
He was arrested in Thailand a second time in August 2001 after a viewer called authorities.
After attending Indiana University, Rosser performed at local clubs and played keyboards on Mellencamp's 1980 album "Nothin' Matters and What if it Did," receiving credit under the name "Doc" Rosser.
After he quit the band, Rosser traveled the country in a converted school bus complete with a Steinway grand piano. He eventually moved to Thailand.
"I am a loved and respected teacher," he wrote in his five-page statement to the FBI.
Authorities began investigating Rosser after they linked him with a Bloomington resident who was caught in bed with a 7-year-old girl. They discovered a pedophile ring in which several Bloomington residents swapped portions of their porn collections.
Upon his release from prison, Rosser will serve three years of supervised release.
He will be barred from possessing pornography or erotica and cannot have unsupervised contact with children. He will have to register as a sex offender and take part in a treatment program.
