Ex-Internet Crimes Against Children detective pleads guilty to child sex crimes

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- (KFOR) -- A former police detective and karate instructor pleaded guilty Tuesday to multiple charges of sex crimes against children. 41-year-old Bruce Arlie Harvey of Reva, Virginia was assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force prior to his arrest.

“Harvey abused his positions of trust as a law enforcement officer and as a karate instructor to sexually exploit two of his female karate students beginning when each was approximately 13 years old," said acting United States Attorney Rick A. Mountcastle. "This case shows that child predators infiltrate every aspect of our society."

The abuse lasted several years.

Mountcastle urged parents to always be on guard and remember child predators may flock to jobs that put them in close contact with kids.

"Harvey was every parent's worst nightmare," said Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Richmond Division. "A multi-victim predator camouflaging himself in positions of trust. School resource officer. Child exploitation investigator. Karate instructor. Despicable."

While a karate instructor Madison County, Harvey made sexual advances toward the 13-year-old girls, investigators said.

"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," prosecutors said. "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 three counts of transporting a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in criminal sexual acts, three counts of interstate travel with minors with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and one count of possession of child pornography.