Adopted son of child porn suspect speaks out about father’s arrest
Cody Yoder said he’s the 18-year-old adopted son of John David Yoder, who’s now accused of child sex charges. He described the arrest of his 43-year-old father to us Tuesday night.
“I was there during his arrest. He was taking me to work and the cops pulled us over and handcuffed him on the side of the street,” said Cody Yoder.
John Yoder is a Special Education aide at Desert Hot Springs High School. He’s been placed on unpaid leave by the Palm Springs Unified School District, pending the investigation.
Police arrested Yoder, Erick Monsivais and William Clyde Thompson on multiple charges of child pornography and sex trafficking.
The Riverside County District Attorney’s office said the trio would go to parks in Desert Hot Springs and lure kids by saying the children could model on camera for them. Officials said the porn ring lasted at least three years.
Cody Yoder said police went through their home and took his father’s computer, camera and any possible evidence of child pornography.
“I was aware of it. I was getting into a lot of arguments about it with him,” said Cody Yoder. “I was actually planning on bringing him down myself, since it was wrong and twisted, but I can’t really do much in my current situation. I’ve got school and he does pay the bills,” said Cody Yoder.
Cody said John Yoder was a licensed foster parent and adopted him 10 years ago along with another boy. Cody said six years later he started noticing unusual signs.
“I go look on his computer, he’s got boylover.org. It’s a picture of a boy with his underwear on,” said Cody Yoder. “He put on this good public appearance of this good guy who cares about kids.”
Cody Yoder said four boys were recently living under Yoder’s roof and sleepovers with other young boys were common.
“Dad has taken picture of boys with their shirts off and photoshopped stuff. I’ve walked into his bedroom he’s photoshopping boys into pictures. I was just going to talk about my school work,” he said.
Cody claimed the other two suspects in the child porn ring, Thompson and Monsivais, were also there at their home at times and his father never forced him to participate in child pornography.
Police have set up a hotline for parents to call if they know their children have had contact with the suspects. You’re asked to call the SAFE/ICAC task force toll-free at (866) SAFE595 or (866) 723-3595
