Joseph Gobrick, 45, told a judge he identifies as an eight-year-old girl during his trial for child pornography. (Picture: WLTX)

A pedophile told a judge he identifies as an eight-year-old girl as he claimed free speech laws entitle him to look at child sex abuse images.

Joseph Gobrick, 45, was sentenced to up to 20 years in prison this week in Grand Rapids, Michigan by judge Paul Denenfeld, who did not buy Gobrick’s strange claims.

At his sentencing, Gobrick told the judge: ‘I’ve always been an eight-year-old girl. And even in my drawings and fantasies, I am always an eight-year-old girl.’

Gobrick acted as his own lawyer and openly spoke about his disturbing sketches and conversations while he was in jail, but it did not help his case. Instead, prosecutors called him ‘a danger to the public.’




Assistant Prosecutor Daniel Helmer said: ‘Even during the trial, the defendant continued to draw, talking about raping babies in the Kent County Jail and making other statements about how this is his constitutional right to continue to do so.’

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Gobrick, a convicted sex offender from New York, was arrested in 2018 after a missing 17-year-old girl from Ohio was found at his home.

During a police investigation, numerous child sex abuse images were found on Gobrick’s computer. Some of the images depicted babies being sexually assaulted, according to court records.

Dog 'cries' after being forced to eat hot chilli in disturbing social media trend

In court this week, Gobrick claimed the images were computer-animated and protected under the First Amendment – but prosecutors strongly disagreed.

‘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. This isn’t just virtual stuff; this is also real people being harmed,’ Helmer said.

Joseph Gobrick was arrested in 2018 after police found a missing 17-year-old girl at his home. (Picture: WZZM-TV)

Gobrick continued to insist his innocence and even likened his prosecution to the holocaust.

‘Under the law, Auschwitz was legal. What you’re doing here is wrong, Just as Auschwitz was,’ he said, telling the judge that he was not sexually attracted to children.

Happy Rosh Hashanah! When is it, greetings and what does Shana Tova mean?

‘I would no sooner has sex with a child than you would with a rattlesnake. It’s just not safe.’

Judge Denefeld found Gobrick guilty on three counts of child sexually abusive commercial activity and using a computer to commit a crime.