Cambridge man sentenced to federal prison for enticement and coercion of a minor

MARYLAND – A Cambridge man has been sentenced to a decade in federal prison for coercing a minor.

According to his guilty plea, before July 17, 2018, 74-year-old Richard Robinson communicated with a 12-year-old boy through mobile phones and the internet to arrange a meeting for sexual activity. On that date, Robinson reportedly met the victim at a park in Easton, where he allegedly engaged in sexual activity with the child, using his phone to document the sexual abuse of the minor victim.

In July 2021, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a CyberTip report from Snapchat, reporting that Robinson’s account had uploaded suspected child pornography. A search was later executed at Robinson’s residence, during which police seized two cell phones and additional electronic media. The content of his Snapchat and Gmail accounts were reviewed, leading police to find the sexually explicit images of the victim that Robinson produced on July 17, 2018. Robinson also allegedly sent text messages to others describing the sexual abuse of the minor and used Snapchat to distribute the images of the victim. He also reportedly engaged in sexually explicit communication regarding minors, in which he discussed the sexual abuse of children, including a prepubescent child being cared for by another Snapchat user.

Police say on June 9, 2021, Robinson received sexually explicit images depicting the sexual abuse of a two-year-old male victim from that Snapchat user and asked the user questions about the abuse, encouraging them to “take some pics”.

On Friday, Robinson was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, followed by 25 years of supervised release.