Monday, February 17, 2025

Former Poquoson assistant coach given 42 years in prison in child pornography case

Robert Manning Rollins, 58. (Courtesy Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail)
Robert Manning Rollins, 58. (Courtesy Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail)

A former assistant coach and volunteer for Poquoson High School sports teams was sentenced to 42 years in prison for possessing and intending to distribute child pornography.

Robert Manning Rollins, 58, was sentenced Thursday to 42 years in prison with all but 12 suspended on 10 child pornography-related charges, according to online court records.

Rollins has spent the last two and a half years in jail awaiting trial and sentencing. He pleaded guilty to all 10 charges on Sept. 12 last year in the York-Poquoson Circuit Court.

Task force agents arrested Rollins Sept. 15, 2015, after finding several images of child pornography months earlier that had been uploaded by an IP address connected to Rollin’s Poquoson home, prosecutors have said in prior court hearings.

At that time, the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office seized his cell phone and laptop. Rollins told police he had about 50 images in a file named “pics to share” and had an addiction to child pornography.

Police uncovered the file named “pics to share,” which had several categorized files inside containing about 500 child pornography images and two child pornography videos.

Some material depicted female children displaying their genitals, while other material showed adult men having sex with children.

Police also found about 1,500 Yahoo chat logs between Rollins and other internet users discussing getting child pornography. In some chats, Rollins said he was a child, prosecutors said.

Rollins confirmed in a Dec. 8, 2016, court hearing that he had previously served as an assistant baseball coach, a statistician for the football team, and the clock and scoreboard keeper for volleyball and basketball for Poquoson High School.

Case prosecutors were not immediately available for comment Thursday afternoon.

Sarah Fearing
Sarah Fearing
Sarah Fearing is the Assistant Editor at WYDaily. Sarah was born in the state of Maine, grew up along the coast, and attended college at the University of Maine at Orono. Sarah left Maine in October 2015 when she was offered a job at a newspaper in West Point, Va. Courts, crime, public safety and civil rights are among Sarah’s favorite topics to cover. She currently covers those topics in Williamsburg, James City County and York County. Sarah has been recognized by other news organizations, state agencies and civic groups for her coverage of a failing fire-rescue system, an aging agriculture industry and lack of oversight in horse rescue groups. In her free time, Sarah enjoys lazing around with her two cats, Salazar and Ruth, drinking copious amounts of coffee and driving places in her white truck.

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