Wake 4-H volunteer faces child sex crimes charges

Robert Wesley Steinruck, 39, of 601 Pony Road, Apt. 26, in Zebulon, is charged with three counts of indecent liberties with a child, four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two counts of disseminating obscene material to a minor under 16. He was being held Thursday in the Wake County jail under a $75,000 bond.

Wake County prosecutors said Steinruck took three boys, ages 14, 13 and 11, and a girl to a Comfort Suites hotel off New Bern Avenue east of Raleigh last September, where he plied them with alcohol and perhaps marijuana and showed them pornography.

The three boys were touched inappropriately in the hotel room, prosecutors said.

One mother said she thought the youths were going on an overnight trip to camp and ride horses with Steinruck. She said he used fear and intimidation to keep the youths from telling anyone about the incident for months.

Steinruck was arrested March 6 on Oak Island.

Officials with the Wake County 4-H said Steinruck passed a standard background check before becoming a volunteer, and that he was immediately suspended from 4-H when the allegations against him came to light.

Investigators said they fear other people might have been molested as well, and they urged anyone who might have had improper contact with Steinruck to come forward.