A Southern Illinois District Judge has sentenced a 41-year-old Paducah, Kentucky man to 121 months imprisonment for attempting to entice a Southern Illinois minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.
Robert Rodriguez had been found guilty in October of one count of attempted enticement of a minor and one count of soliciting an obscene visual depiction of a minor.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Rodriquez initiated the conversation in a few messages with an undercover federal agent on an online social media platform in May 2023. He reportedly discussed meeting with a purported nine-year-old child to engage in sexual activity and requested child sexual abuse material.
On May 10th, 2023, law enforcement arrested Rodriguez in Marion when he tried to meet with the child.
Following prison, Rodriquez will serve seven years of supervised release.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
