OAKLAND — A 30-year-old elementary schoolteacher from Germany has been charged with traveling to the Bay Area to sexually abuse a teen girl who he allegedly purported to be in love with.
Adam Soboll was charged this week with traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, a federal offense that carries a maximum 30-year prison term, plus a $250,000 fine and a lifetime on supervised release. Soboll allegedly met the girl on Twitch, a chat application primarily used by video gamers.
The criminal complaint, unsealed Thursday, lays out the allegations against Soboll.
The investigation started Aug. 25, when a Brentwood woman called police to report she believed her 15-year-old daughter had gone to a nearby hotel to meet a man she had met online. Police recovered pictures of Soboll and the girl together, including one photo with the caption, “I love you,” according to court records.
Police interviewed Soboll, who admitted to engaging in sex acts with the girl, and to sending her pictures of his penis, according to the criminal complaint. When authorities interviewed the girl, she too admitted that sexual abuse had taken place, and said she sent Soboll explicit pictures and video of herself, authorities said.
Authorities determined the two met online, and communicated through Twitch, Twitter and text messages. They reportedly talked for several months, and started talking about Soboll coming to visit her as early as January. The girl said she helped Soboll pick out a hotel to stay for his visit.
The charges are eerily similar to the case against David Telles, a Pleasanton man who in 2014 traveled to England to marry a teen girl he had met online. Telles convinced the girl to run away with her, sexually abused her in a hotel and was arrested after an international manhunt. In June, a judge sentenced Telles to 25 years in federal prison.
