Livermore man, 41, charged with molesting 12-year-old girl he met online
LIVERMORE — A 41-year-old man has been charged with molesting a 12-year-old girl he reportedly met through the social media application Snapchat, and police say when they came to arrest him they stumbled upon a large cache of illegal drugs for sale.
Roger Rempfer, of Livermore, was charged last month with two counts of alleged sexual abuse of a minor, two counts of arranging to meet a minor for lewd purposes and seven counts of drug dealing, for allegedly possessing methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, ketamine, prescription pills and psychedelic mushrooms for sale. At a Jan. 5 court appearance, a judge granted a defense motion to allow him to post bail, and he was subsequently released from Santa Rita Jail, court records show.
Rempfer came under investigation last year after the girl’s mother reported the alleged molestation to police. Authorities interviewed the girl, who provided a video from the inside of Rempfer’s home and described the location with “extreme accuracy,” police said in court records.
The two met on Snapchat, and during subsequent conversations, the girl mentioned her age, her school and the fact that she had a curfew, according to Livermore police. Police also noted in court papers that the girl’s home is a roughly two-hour drive from Rempfer’s home.
“There is no other explanation why (a) man 40 years old would drive approximately 240 miles round trip and pick up 12-year-old that he met on the internet other than to have sexual intercourse with her,” Livermore police Detective Daniel Masingale wrote in court papers.
Police showed up to Rempfer’s home on Columbine Avenue in Livermore to discuss the matter with him, but invented a ruse along the way: They informed him he had been a recent victim of mail theft, and when he exited his residence they handcuffed him and informed him of his outstanding child molestation warrant, authorities said.
A search of the home uncovered more than one pound of heroin, a half-pound each of methamphetamine and cocaine, various amounts of other drugs and packaging materials that police took as evidence of Rempfer’s alleged involvement in “shipping illegal drugs across the country,” police said in court papers.
Rempfer is next due in court on Jan. 16 to enter a plea, court records show.