Bay Area judge orders release of terminally ill accused child predator

OAKLAND >> At a Friday morning court hearing, a federal magistrate judge approved the release from jail of a 61-year-old Santa Rosa man accused of coercing a 10-year-old girl into sending him nude photos of herself.

Barry Rossman, 61, is in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin pending extradition to Ventura County, where he faces charges of producing child porn, receiving child porn and coercion of a minor, court records show. U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler approved his release to his son — a Bay Area resident — after Rossman’s attorney said her client is suffering from Stage 4 lung cancer.

Beeler’s order will not take effect until Tuesday, though, because she decided to give federal prosecutors time to appeal it. If they decide to appeal, it will go before a U.S. District Judge for final approval. U.S. Pretrial Services did not object to Rossman’s release in court Friday, but the prosecution expressed concern it could lead to Rossman victimizing more kids online.

Rossman is formally charged related to one alleged victim — a 10-yearold girl — but assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Karmel said in court Friday that there was evidence he reached out to 1,000 Instagram accounts, all of which appeared to belong to girls. Karmel said Rossman was posing on Instagram as a 21-year-old man and that there was evidence he’d used Google translate tools to translate similar phrases as those he’d used on the 10-yearold, suggesting he was targeting girls “all over the world.”

Additionally, Karmel alleged Rossman had sent the girl images of adult genitalia as part of his attempt to coerce her into sending him images of herself.

“All he needs is an internet enabled device… and he is an immediate danger to children,” Karmel said Friday. “The consequences here are just so significant. It’s not enough to catch him after he’s done it, it’s really important that we prevent him from doing it.”

Beeler said she was approving the release “somewhat reluctantly” but did so anyways, though she warned Rossman she would jail him for “one misstep” or if she learns his illness isn’t as serious as he’s representing. He isn’t allowed to use the internet and will be kept on electronic monitoring if his release goes through.

In court Friday, Rossman’s son acknowledge he will owe the court a $75,000 bond if Rossman breaks any rules and agreed to turn his dad into the feds if need be. Rossman promised in court to obey the rules given to him by pretrial services.

Rossman’s attorney, Sophia Whiting, said in court Friday that Rossman is receiving chemotherapy treatments in the Bay Area, which provides him an additional incentive to not flee. Karmel, though, said that Rossman was a longtime resident of Ventura County who’s departure to Santa Rosa came soon after federal authorities served a search warrant at his Southern California home last year.