Amsterdam man accused of exchanging inappropriate pictures with child

AMSTERDAM – Police took a disturbing report from a family last month.

“We were notified by the victim’s parents when they discovered the material on the cellphone that belonged to the child,” said Amsterdam Police Lieutenant Joseph Spencer.

Anthony Ropas, 26, of Amsterdam is facing charges – including disseminating indecent material to minors, sexual abuse, and coercion.

Police say he is known to the family. They say he threatened the little girl.

“The defendant was soliciting from the female victim nude photos of her and having her send them to him via cellphone,” said Spencer. “They exchanged photos between the two of them and that’s what we were able to determine through our investigation.”

He was arrested last week, but then, police say, he tried to escape.

“He was placed into custody and into handcuffs and he was placed in the back of a marked APD patrol vehicle and then he began to smash his body against the cage inside the car and then was able to kick out the rear passenger side window and then thrust himself through that then broken window onto the ground below and took off from there,” said Spencer.

However, he didn’t run free for long. Police quickly took him back into custody, and now he’s facing even more felony charges.

Police have some advice for parents.

“Keep vigilant of the devices your children have access to, whether it’s a tablet or cellphone or home computer,” said Spencer. “Make sure that you are periodically going through them, looking for anything that could be outside their pattern. If it looks off to you as a parent, you should investigate further and be mindful of who they might be talking to on the internet. The sooner you do it, the safer you’re going to be.”

Ropas is being held in jail on $25,000 cash bail.