Former Petaluma Boys & Girls Club Director Arrested Again for Possession of Child Pornography
Benjamin Goerke, 30, was arrested on March 26, 2025 and is facing a potential felony charge of possessing obscene matter of a person under 18 years of age
Per the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Jail Inmate Search, Mr. Benjamin Miguel Goerke, age 30, was arrested on March 26, 2025 on suspicion of 1 Count of violating PC 311.11(a)(1), a felony.
Goerke’s court date is scheduled for tomorrow, March 28, 2025 and his bail has been set at $30k.
The full penal code states the following:
CHAPTER 7.5. Obscene Matter [311 - 312.7]
( Chapter 7.5 added by Stats. 1961, Ch. 2147. )
311.11.
(a) (1) Every person who knowingly possesses or controls any matter, representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, the production of which involves the use of a person under 18 years of age, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or simulating sexual conduct, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 311.4, is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison, or a county jail for up to one year, or by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or by both the fine and imprisonment.
(2) Every person who knowingly possesses or controls any matter, representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, knowing that the matter is obscene and depicts what appears to be a person under 18 years of age, or contains digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated data depicting what appears to be a person under 18 years of age, engaging in or simulating sexual conduct, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 311.4, is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison, or imprisonment in a county jail for up to one year, or by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or by both that fine and imprisonment.
Mr. Goerke appears to be a repeat offender of similar crimes. The Sonoma County Superior Court records indicated that he was sentenced with a felony in SCR-701299-1 | PEO VS. GOERKE. The case was originally filed on 04/28/2017.
On April 28, 2017, The Patch published the following article:
Boys & Girls Clubs Of Marin, Petaluma Address Child Porn Arrest Of Director
Breaking: Benjamin Goerke, 22, was subject to multiple background checks, BGCMP CEO David Jackson said in a "letter to the community."
MARIN COUNTY, CA -- The CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Marin and Petaluma wrote a letter to the community this week after the director of its after-school program in Petaluma was arrested on suspicion of posting a 6-year-old girl's photo and her personal information on an internet child pornography chat room.
Benjamin Goerke, 22, of Rohnert Park, was charged Friday in Sonoma County Superior Court with felony child endangerment and possession of child pornography.
Goerke is also charged with unlawful taking of personal information from a data base, Deputy District Attorney Jason Riehl said Friday morning. Riehl said Goerke faces a state prison term if convicted. Goerke was ordered to not contact the alleged victim.
Rohnert Park police arrested Goerke on Monday; he posted bail and was released from the Sonoma County Jail.
On Friday, Goerke did not enter a plea and will return to court May 18. He told the court he intends to hire a private attorney.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Marin and Petaluma said Goerke has been placed on leave. Goerke was hired in 2014 and has been the program director of the after-school program at the Cinnabar School since January, the organization said.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security informed the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety on March 29 that the girl's photo and personal information were posted on the internet site where images of child pornography are shared and arrangements are made to have the children available for molestation, Rohnert Park police said.
The girl's parents confirmed the girl's posted name, Petaluma address and phone number were correct and that her photo was taken at an after-school program at a Boys & Girls Club in the Petaluma area, police said.
The IP address of the user who posted the photo and information was traced to Goerke's residence on East Cotati Avenue in Rohnert Park, police said.
Police got a $50,000 arrest warrant for child endangerment and arrested Goerke at the after-school program on Monday. Police said they searched his home and took electronics that access the internet.
Goerke admitted taking non-pornographic photos of the girl with his cellphone and accessing her personal information remotely through the Boys & Girls Club's network, Rohnert Park police Cmdr. Aaron Johnson said.
Goerke was subject to multiple background checks, Boys & Girls Clubs of Marin and Petaluma CEO David Jackson said in a "letter to the community" Tuesday.
Affiliated with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Marin and Petaluma manages eight clubhouses in Petaluma, along with five in Marin: Marin City, San Rafael, Novato and Corte Madera.
"We are deeply concerned by this news, and are taking this situation very seriously," Jackson wrote. "The safety and well-being of your children is our absolute top priority, and while we have no indication that any of our members have been directly harmed, we do know to date personal information was compromised and released regarding one child. At this time, BGCMP has taken precautionary measures to remove the employee from all Clubs within our organization. All access to Club files, property, etc. have been removed from said employee. We are working with the local authorities to ensure we provide them with all the information they need to conduct their ongoing investigation.
"As with any potential employee or volunteer at our Clubs, the employee was subject to multiple background checks. Our organization does not tolerate any inappropriate or illegal activity on the part of any Club staff, volunteer, or youth member.
"In spite of these developments, I am confident that our clubs are the safest place for local youth."
By Maggie Avants and Bay City News Service
It is concerning that potential sexual predators are easily enabled to have direct access to our children. It’s difficult to believe that the Boys & Girls Clubs of Marin and Petaluma genuinely conducted multiple background checks and adhered to policy.
Convicted child molester Paul “Dwayne” Kilgore was the former Athletic Director at numerous Sonoma County Boys & Girls Clubs during the same period.
On November 18, 2021, The Sonoma-Index Tribune published the following article:
Matthew 18:6 - But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.The Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley had received reports of Kilgore’s inappropriate behavior with minor boys for years during his tenure at the club, according to the lawsuits. Kilgore started working for various Boys & Girls clubs in Sonoma County in the late 1990s.
In around 2000-01, employees, administrators and executive board members of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley “began to notice Paul Dwayne Kilgore’s inappropriate close relationships with young boys at the club, including that Kilgore would put his hands on young boys and take boys on and off the club premises in his personal vehicle,” according to one of the lawsuits filed by two men, referred as John Doe 5 and John Doe 6.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley also learned that Kilgore would not obtain parents’ permission to take boys on outings. Parents and other employees complained to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley about Kilgore’s behavior, according to court filings.
Kilgore failed a sexual harassment test in March 2006. Yet his supervisor signed off that Kilgore had completed “his sexual harassment ‘training’ and passed the test,” according to court filings.
In March 2013, letters of reprimand were sent to three Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley administrators, including its chief executive officer, for their “failures to enact parameters and ‘set boundaries’ in response to the complaints they received about Paul Dwayne Kilgore,” according to the lawsuit filed by John Doe 5 and John Doe 6. In September 2013, Kilgore was allowed to resign.
However, in January 2014, Kilgore was hired by nearby Boys & Girls clubs to work in and around Petaluma and Sonoma, according to the court filings. His abuse against two of the six plaintiffs continued, the lawsuits alleged.
Kilgore was arrested in 2016 after a teacher reported to law enforcement that Kilgore had been inappropriately talking and touching one of the plaintiffs at a health club in Healdsburg.
Kilgore was convicted in 2018 of molesting three boys under the age of 14. The exact number of his victims is unclear. Prosecutors tried to have eight other alleged victims testify. Of those, four spoke in court, according to court filings.
As Mr. Goerke’s case moves through the legal system, I will update the community with additional information. At this time, I have provided all facts which were readily available.
“But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
-Matthew 18:6
I was just talking about that case the other day!