Photographer Indicted On Child Pornography Charges

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – A photographer arrested in 2018 after authorities said he raped underage models was charged with coercing six minor victims in Oregon to engage in child pornography.

The Statesman Journal reports that U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams announced Wednesday that Robert Arnold Koester, 52, was being charged with six counts of production of child pornography.

At the time of his arrest, Koester worked as a professional photographer, engaged in the photography of models, primarily on the West Coast.

Koester owns a 28-acre farm in rural Yamhill County near Carlton, where police believe he drugged, raped and assaulted multiple women and teens. Koester faces dozens of additional state and federal charges for related criminal conduct in Yamhill County and in California.

Efforts to reach an attorney for Koester weren’t immediately successful.