A federal judge is sending a former member of the Madison County Sheriff's Office to prison for possessing child pornography and engaging in sexual acts with then-underage girls.
The defense asked the court on Thursday, January 25, to sentence 42-year-old Bruce Arlie Harvey to 10 years behind bars. The former karate coach admitted to having "relationships" - one of which lasted for around 4 years - with two female students.
According to legal documents, Harvey was a school resource officer for more than a year, but was reassigned after parents complained he behaved inappropriately around teenage girls. The deputy later served as part of an Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Several people testified to Harvey's character, mostly through letters in support of the defendant. Many described him as "honest" and "focused on teaching and leading."
Prosecutors countered, saying Harvey was known to be obsessive and controlling to his victims: "Essentially, every waking minute that these children did not spend in school or at home asleep, were monopolized by the defendant,” said U.S. Attorney Nancy Spodick Healey.
Two women filed their report with authorities sometime in 2016. They claimed Harvey carried on sexual relationships over a period of roughly 10 years - from 1998 to 2007 - while he taught them at the Virginia Tong Leong School of Martial Arts.
The judge decided to hand down the maximum time of 23 years, saying the victims had to internalize their trauma for years.
Harvey was arrested on May 3, 2017, and suspended from duty at the Madison County Sheriff's Office the same day.
One of the victims told the court Thursday that the sheriff's office "failed her."
"The fact that a sworn law enforcement officer would do something to ruin that trust, to ruin the protection of the people that they're sworn to protect is something that is a huge aggravating factor," Spodick Healey said.
The prosecution argued both victims were around the age of 13 when Harvey began having sexual interactions with them.
The U.S. Department of Justice issued a release on August 14, 2017 after Harvey entered guilty pleas :
Harvey engaged in illegal sexual acts with these children after he began giving them private karate lessons and began traveling with each of them to karate competitions and other events at various out-of-state locations, including Ocean City, Maryland.
At the time of his arrest on May 3, 2017, investigators recovered a Sony microcassette in a bedroom closet that contained a film clip dated February 14, 2007, that showed one of the victims performing a sexual act with Harvey in his Madison County home.
Harvey pleaded guilty to:
The defendant did briefly apologize in court Thursday, saying he is sorry to those he has hurt.
The court has yet to set a date to take up restitution for Harvey's victims.