Lucas Robinson Guilty

A 23-year-old Cedar Rapids man, Lucas Robinson, has pleaded guilty to federal child sexual exploitation offenses, including sexual exploitation of children, possession of child pornography, and extortion.

According to the plea hearing, Robinson admitted to using, persuading, inducing, enticing, and coercing minor females to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of this conduct between 2009 and 2012.

Robinson also admitted to threatening to distribute sexually explicit depictions of minors to force them to send him more explicit images, talk to him when he wanted, and engage in sexual activity with him.

The sentencing for Robinson will be set after a presentence report is prepared by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Robinson remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 42 years’ imprisonment, $750,000 in fines, a $300 special assessment, and supervised release for 5 years to life following his imprisonment.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Cedar Rapids Police Department and the Benton County Sheriff’s Office as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl, with the case file number being CR 12-0089.

The guilty plea is a significant step in the fight against child exploitation, and the prosecution of Lucas Robinson sends a strong message that such heinous crimes will not be tolerated. The public can report suspected cases of child exploitation to the authorities, and resources are available for victims and their families.