Jurors deliberated for about two hours Thursday before handing down guilty verdicts on all nine counts in a Camas man’s child exploitation trial in Clark County Superior Court.
Zachary William Akers, 21, was convicted on two counts each of second-degree possessing depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, sexual exploitation of a minor and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes, and one count each of second-degree internet viewing depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, second-degree dealing in depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor.
The jury found he exploited two girls, ages 14 and 15, after befriending them online and pressuring them into sending nude photos and sexually explicit videos. He threatened to expose their private messages and compromising images unless they gave him what he wanted — more nude images and to meet up for sex.
He will be sentenced June 6 pending a presentencing investigation. Deputy Prosecutor Kristine Foerster said the most serious conviction — sexual exploitation of a minor — carries a sentence of 10 years.
Foerster told the jury in her closing arguments Thursday morning that not long ago, these types of cases didn’t exist. But now technology and information is at teen’s fingertips, she said.
Akers created a fake Facebook profile, posing as a 16-year-old boy, to communicate with a 14-year-old girl who had previously rejected him. He was actually 19 at the time, Foerster said during the trial. When the girl later tried to end the relationship, Akers sent out compromising photos of the girl, she said.
He then befriended a 15-year-old girl on Facebook, again posing as a 16-year-old boy. He asked the girl to send him nude photos and offered to give her marijuana for oral sex, Foerster said. However, he later learned the girl was not interested in him, Foerster said, so he threatened to expose their conversation unless she sent nude photos and sexually explicit videos of herself.
“In this case, the defendant lashed out at 14- and 15-year-old girls. He knew what he was doing was wrong. … He did not care,” Foerster told the jury Thursday. “He sought these girls (out) online and when he was rejected or perceived to be rejected, he lashed out at them. He’s guilty of all these crimes. Hold him accountable for what he’s done.”
Akers’ defense attorney, Katie Kauffman, told the jury in her closing arguments that Akers and the 14-year-old girl were in a consensual relationship — one that he didn’t want to keep secret.
“Three hundred-ninety days is what separates Zach from being in high school himself. He’s a teenager, still living at home. He was online talking to other teenagers, younger, yes,” Kauffman said. “(But) like it or not, that’s how things are these days. That’s how teens date.
“These were two consenting teens. It was extremely mutual,” she added. “This is not a 50-year-old man talking with 12-year-old kids.”
Kauffman argued that the 14-year-old girl asked for nude photos of Akers and that she initiated much of their sexual conversations.
Akers told detectives that he shouldn’t have gone along with the relationship, Kauffman said, but that he wanted to date the girl.
He adamantly denied talking with the 15-year-old girl and repeatedly said he didn’t remember her, Kauffman said. It’s possible someone else could have accessed the Facebook profile, she said, to communicate with her.
“Why would he fully admit to one girl … but not the other?” Kauffman asked the jury.
Foerster argued that Kauffman gave many reasons as to why the jury should be sympathetic toward Akers.
“Maybe you feel bad for him. … Maybe you think 19 is close to 14. Maybe you feel these were bad decisions by these girls,” she said. But none of that matters, she added, because the law is there to protect them. “Teenage girls are as vulnerable as you can get.”
It doesn’t matter if at anytime the girls asked Akers to send nude photos, Foerster said, because he is the adult and is obligated to not engage in sexual conduct with minors.
“This is a case of an online predator. He can’t have a pass for his behavior under the law, and he is not entitled to a pass,” she said.
Akers has four other pending cases related to a monthslong child pornography and online child exploitation investigation. He’s accused of communicating with girls ages 14 to 16 years old, court records show.
