Sheriff: 'Sadomasochistic child abuser' faces justice 5 years after arrest

WINTER HAVEN (FOX 13) - The saying "better late than never" rings true for the Polk County Sheriff's Office today.

Back in 2011, Robin Pagoria, a former Polk County detention deputy, and her boyfriend Christopher Lobban were arrested on multiple charges of sadomasochistic child abuse.

According to the original 2011 arrest affidavit, Pagoria recorded video of herself spanking Pagoria's two 15-year-old girls with sex whips and paddles after forcing them to strip naked and tying them to a homemade bondage-style spanking table.

She then sent the videos to Lobban, of Mullaloo, Australia.

Both Pagoria and Lobban admitted to detectives that they have spanking fetishes.

During interviews with Pagoria and searches of her home, computer, and cell phone, PCSO detectives learned that Pagoria's online "domestic discipline" boyfriend, identified as Christopher Lobban of Western Australia, was instrumental in the abuse of the children. The two met on "Spankfinder.com." Lobban instructed Pagoria how to make a "spanking table" and instructed her how to hit the young girls. Pagoria also videotaped the abuse and uploaded the videos to Vimeo.com for Lobban's review. The victims also described Lobban as being very involved in their "punishment."

Polk County Sheriff's Office investigators spent the next several years working with a multitude of law enforcement agencies worldwide in efforts to extradite Lobben to Polk County so that he could be held accountable for his crimes.

Finally, the years of effort and waiting paid off. Lobben was booked into the Polk County Jail Friday night, January 6, 2017. He is being held on $500,000 bond with a Federal hold order.

Sheriff Grady Judd made the following statement on the extradition arrest:

"Back in 2011, I said we would hunt down and hold accountable the sadomasochistic child abuser Christopher Lobban. Thanks to the great work of our detectives, the 10th Judicial circuit State Attorney's Office, the Western Australia Police, the United States Department of Justice, the United States State Department, the Office of International Affairs, Interpol, and the United States Marshals Service, Lobban is now hereafter 5 1/2 years in Polk County facing justice for the sadomasochistic sexual abuse of these girls. My hope is that Lobban will join his co-abuser in Florida State Prison for as long as a Polk County jury will permit."

PCSO released video of Lobban being booked into Polk County Jail.

The investigation began in May 2011 when PCSO detectives were alerted that a Polk County Sheriff's detention deputy, 45-year-old (at the time) Robin Pagoria, was severely punishing (by whipping with sex paddles) two children she had access to between the ages of 12 and 16. She also filmed and distributed the video of the whippings to Lobban in Austalia. Pagoria was subsequently arrested and resigned from the Polk County Sheriff's Office. The abused children were not identified per Florida Statutes, but Pagoria did not gain access to the children through her employment. Before resigning, Pagoria had been employed as a detention deputy for nearly six years.