Ex-EMT convicted of possessing child abuse images called 'predator'

Lina Portman3 weeks ago

0 5 minutes read

BRENTWOOD — Prosecutors hope new testimony will convince a judge that former Kensington EMT Todd Burnim was more than a collector of child sexual abuse images and, in fact, a predator.

Burnim, 57, was convicted in March of 15 counts of possessing child sexual abuse images. He was in court Friday for sentencing and after five hours of testimony, it continued into next month.

Burnim is also awaiting trial in a separate case for 12 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and two counts of criminal sexual assault, police say, which he committed against three minors under the age of 13 between 2012 and 2019. He also faces another trial on 26 other charges. of possession of child sexual abuse images after being indicted by a Rockingham County grand jury in March.

Rockingham County Prosecutor Patricia Conway brought two witnesses to speak Friday, alluding to Burnim's other charges and predatory behavior. One of them was a Kensington police sergeant who testified about witnesses who came forward about Burnim's child sex abuse allegations. The other was a 19-year-old woman who said Burnim coerced her into sending him nude photos when she was 12 years old.

“I didn’t even really understand what it was at the time,” the woman testified.

The testimony included that Burnim was accused of sexually abusing a girl around 8 years old when he was a teenager, as well as at least one child who knew the victims at his upcoming trial for aggravated sexual assault.

Sentencing will begin on July 12 at 1 p.m., delayed by a month due to the court's busy June schedule. Conway said she hoped the testimony would argue for a “substantial and strong state prison sentence.”

“If he is in possession of child sexual abuse images and there is nothing else in his story, that is very different from someone who has the rest of this type of “story,” Conway said.

Prosecutors: Former Kensington EMT is a child 'predator'

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Burnim previously served as a paramedic for the Kensington and East Kingston fire departments and worked for Action Ambulance Service, according to Kensington police. He was arrested in January 2022 after a two-hour standoff with police, accused of allegedly drugging and abusing three victims over several years.

According to court documents, he is accused of sexually abusing a child aged 6 to 12 and another aged 9 to 12. A third child was sexually abused in 2017 over a period of weeks, according to police. Police said the victims described being given “white pills” and “green liquid from a syringe.”

The child sexual abuse images discovered on his computer and other devices were found during the police investigation into the abuse allegations.

Prosecutors say the 19-year-old witness called Friday was in one of the child sex abuse photos, taken when she was 12. The witness said she never knew Burnim's name, but confirmed to Assistant County Attorney Taylor Beucler that she was in a photo shown in court. The image was projected out of public view inside the courtroom.

The witness said she came into contact with Burnim when she was 12 on a Chatroulette-style website that matched users with strangers. She said Burnim led her to the Kick app where their conversation became increasingly sexual.

The witness said he would text and call her making vulgar and sexual demands and send her lewd photos. She said she felt compelled to continue the relationship because she had struggled with fear of abandonment.

“It was just a really tough time,” the witness said, referring to seven years ago.

Burnim, she said, frequently told her to delete any images sent to her. She said he eventually threatened to show people the footage he had of her if she revealed the abuse.

Sgt. Brad Von Haden of the Kensington Police Department said his investigation into Burnim led him to witnesses who claimed they were abused by Burnim and subjected to predatory advances. He said the interviews led him to someone who was a close friend of one of the victims in the Burnim case and who claimed they had also been abused. According to Von Haden, that person said in an interview with a child advocacy center that she had been abused as a minor while staying alone at Burnim's house.

Von Haden also viewed numerous images of sexual abuse, with the screen placed out of view of the general public, so that he could explain what elements in the room indicated that the photos took place in his home. He pointed to the polka dot sheets that appeared in the background and said officers found those sheets inside Burnim's home, along with other items appearing in the photos.

When police searched his home, they found 800 images of child sexual abuse on the hard drive of his office computer, as well as five on a mobile phone and five more on external drives.

Defense lawyer Heather Erskine cross-examined the 19-year-old, asking her to confirm that she did not know the identity of the person receiving her photos. The witness told Erskine she had never seen photos of the man showing his face.

Erskine also questioned Von Haden's expertise in reviewing electronic evidence, which she said is done by “forensic experts.”

Ex-EMT Todd Burnim to be sentenced in July

Burnim's trial for aggravated sexual assault was scheduled to begin next week. That trial has since been postponed until sentencing in the child sexual abuse images case.

Conway, who filed a motion to postpone the trial, said prosecutors wanted Burnim's sentence settled on the sexual abuse images before his office focused on trying him for the abuse crimes.

Conway said the images found in Burnim's devices include those of numerous children who have not been identified. She said it was important for Ruoff to hear testimony from a victim outside of the cases on Friday to show the extent to which the abuse allegedly took place.

“(Ruoff) had not heard this victim testify that he essentially manipulated her and pressured her into creating these images and sending them to him,” she said. “Which, in our opinion, shows that he is a predator and preys on children.”

Lina Portman

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