PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Joshua T. Robinson, 36, of Colchester, Conn., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Providence, RI, to interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct, admitting to the court that he traveled from his home to Cranston, RI, expecting to meet with and engage in sexual relations with a 14-year old girl.
Robinson’s guilty plea on Feb. 18, 2016, is announced by United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha and Colonel Steven G. O’Donnell, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police.
According to court documents and information presented to the court, beginning in late August 2015, Robinson engaged in a series of emails with a person he believed to be a 14-year old girl in Rhode Island. Over the next several days, with each additional email, Robinson’s comments to the teenager became increasingly sexually explicit. He requested and arranged to meet with the teenager to engage in sexual activity.
However, the person purporting in the emails to be the 14-year old girl was, in fact, members of the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. On September 4, 2015, Robinson was arrested in Cranston, RI, by members of the ICAC Task Force when he arrived at a location where he believed he was going to meet with the teenager.
Robinson is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., on May 12, 2016. Travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct is punishable by statutory penalties of up to 30 years in federal prison and lifetime supervised release.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. McAdams.
The matter was investigated by federal, state and local law enforcement agents and officers assigned to the Rhode Island State Police ICAC Task Force.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
