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Youth sports photographer charged with exposing himself to boy at Hanover sports complex
Robert Schroeter, 44, of Pembroke was arrested Tuesday and charged with open and gross lewdness.
A Pembroke man who works as a youth sports photographer was arrested Tuesday and charged with exposing himself to a 7-year-old boy in the bathroom of a sports complex in Hanover earlier this month.
Robert Schroeter, 44, was arraigned Wednesday in Hingham District Court on the charge of open and gross lewdness. He pleaded not guilty.
Hanover police responded to the Starland Sports Complex on Feb. 4 about an incident alleged to have taken place the previous evening involving a 7-year-old boy and a man, later identified by investigators as Schroeter, according to the police report filed with the court.
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The boy’s mother reported that her son told her he’d exited a bathroom stall to wash his hands when he heard a man say something to him. When the boy turned around, he found Schroeter allegedly exposing himself, according to the report.
Police said surveillance footage from the indoor recreation facility showed Schroeter entered the building and headed to the men’s bathroom on the lower level, passing other restrooms on his way.
“The video shows that the male suspect’s only reason for entering the building was to go to the men’s room which is quite a distance from the main entrance,” the police report states. “The men’s room also contains showers and a changing area within it.”
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According to the report, Schroeder was departing the bathroom after about 10 minutes when the boy walked in.
“The male is seen looking over his shoulder at him, stops and appears to look in each direction and then returns to the bathroom while the child is still inside,” the police report reads.
As part of the investigation, Hanover police posted a still image of the suspect on social media and asked for the public’s help identifying him.
A tip called into the department resulted in investigators identifying the suspect as Schroeder, a sports photographer and owner of SilverPeak Studios, according to the report filed in court. Investigators also allegedly matched the suspect’s clothes seen on surveillance footage to those the 44-year-old photographer was captured wearing at past sporting events.
According to the SilverPeak Studios website, the company specializes in “large and small events offering on-site sales of action-shots at youth sporting events throughout the northeast.”
“We’re the official photographer of countless local hockey, lacrosse, basketball, football and baseball organizations,” the company website reads. “We photograph hundreds of teams and thousands of youth athletes every year.”
On Wednesday, Schroeder was released on $5,000 cash bail and ordered to have no contact with the victim or witnesses, have no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 16, and to stay away from the Starland Sports Complex, according to court records.
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Attorney information for Schroeder was not immediately available.
In a Wednesday statement, Hanover police thanked those who responded to their earlier social media post about the case.
“Tips provided to our detectives, along with the full cooperation of Starland management, were instrumental in our efforts to identify the involved subject and ultimately taking him into custody,” police said. “The collaboration during this investigation between law enforcement, our local businesses, and the general public highlights the importance of community awareness and partnership.”
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