Soccer coach who secretly videotaped girls on his team gets 30 years in prison

A former youth soccer coach was sentenced Tuesday to 30 years in federal prison for secretly videotaping girls on his team as they changed clothes in his Lee’s Summit home.

Joel D. White, 41, pleaded guilty last summer to three counts of attempting to produce child pornography. There is no parole in the federal court system.

White coached girls soccer teams in the under-12 and under-15 age divisions through the Lee’s Summit Soccer Association. The association cooperated fully with investigators, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

From May to October 2012, White secretly videotaped 11 girls who were 11 and 12 years old while they were changing clothes in a bedroom at his home. This happened 10 to 15 times, White admitted. According to court documents, the minors were taped fully nude without their knowledge.

White also admitted he touched one girl on the breast with his hand and his mouth while she was sleeping next to his own minor relative at the residence. He recorded that incident as well.

The videos show White, who also provided DJ and photography services at public and private events, setting up and retrieving the concealed camera used to victimize the girls. In one tape, White looked into the lens and gave himself two thumbs up.

White’s crimes were discovered during a theft investigation in Colorado, where he was attending a World Cup qualifying event. Suspecting White of stealing from the stadium, investigators found video on his equipment of a minor female changing clothes in what appeared to be his home in Lee’s Summit.

In addition to the 30-year sentence, U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple also sentenced White to a 10-year term of supervised release following his incarceration.

This story was originally published April 14, 2015 at 5:57 PM.