SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A former California youth gymnastics coach who fled the country more than a decade ago to avoid prosecution has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.
Derek Swede Godfrey
U.S. prosecutors in Sacramento say 48-year-old Derek Swede Godfrey escaped to the Netherlands in 2006, a day after law enforcement agents found more than 400 explicit videos and 5,000 pornographic photographs on his computer.
He was indicted in 2007. But it wasn’t until 2012 that authorities found him in Perth, Australia, where he was again coaching youth gymnastics.
Australian authorities arrested Godfrey on unrelated charges. They agreed in 2016 to extradite him back to the United States.
Godfrey faces up to 10 years in federal prison at his sentencing in June.
Defense attorney Linda Parisi didn’t immediately return telephone and email requests seeking comment.
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