Sex-Offender Identifies as 8-Year-Old Girl and Claims Porn Is Protected Free Speech

44-year-old Joseph Ryan Gobrick is facing decades in prison for child sexually abusive act
Grand Rapids Police

A convicted sex offender from Michigan who claims to identify as an eight-year-old girl and who was caught with porn on his computer is now arguing it is protected by free speech.

Joseph Gobrick, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was arrested after officers discovered illegal child pornography — including scenes of child rape — on his devices.

The 24-year-old convict attempted to argue that his porn was protected under the First Amendment.

Prosecutors, of course, argued that video and photos of children being raped are not protected free speech. Officials identified eight children being abused in the porn on Gobrick’s devices.

While representing himself at trial in Kent County Circuit Court, Gobrick brazenly exclaimed that he is not sexually attracted to children.

“I would no sooner have sex with a child than you would with a rattlesnake,” Gobrick insisted in court. “It’s just not safe.”

He also claimed that he identifies as an eight-year-old girl.

“I’ve always been an eight-year-old girl,” Gobrick claimed. “And even my drawings and fantasies, I am always an eight-year-old girl.”

Still, prosecutors pointed out that while in jail, Gobrick constantly drew pornographic images of children, where he similarly claimed it was his First Amendment right to do so.

“Based on everything he’s said and done, including bragging about what he was drawing in his cell, he obviously doesn’t think child sexually abusive material is wrong,” the judge said.

But the judge added, “This isn’t just virtual stuff; this is also real people being harmed.”

The court referenced the 17-year-old girl police found in Gobrick’s home in 2018. The girl had been reported missing and endangered. It was during that investigation that officers discovered the illegal porn on his computers.

Gobrick already has a conviction and an arrest in New York back in 2001. He received a sentence of ten to 20 years for this newest case.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston.

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