Douglas Luke Robinette, Production of Child Pornography, Minnesota 2013

A St. Paul man has been sentenced to 360 months in federal prison for producing child pornography, according to a sentencing handed down last week by United States District Court Chief Judge Michael J. Davis.

Twenty-seven-year-old Douglas Luke Robinette was first indicted on April 9, 2013, and pleaded guilty to one count of Production of Child Pornography on November 8, 2013.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lola Velazquez-Aguilu expressed her satisfaction with the sentence, stating, ‘Distributing child pornography re-victimizes the children in these cases.’ She added, ‘The defendant in this case sexually assaulted a young boy, digitally recorded the assaults, and emailed the images, virtually guaranteeing that they will forever exist in cyberspace.’

According to documents filed in court, Robinette was previously convicted of First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct in Kanabec County, Minnesota, in 2010. He was sentenced to a 144-month state prison sentence.

After his conviction in Kanabec County, the United States Attorney’s Office investigated and prosecuted Robinette for the production of child pornography. His guilty plea in federal court revealed that he had induced a developmentally delayed boy to engage in sexually explicit conduct, which Robinette recorded on his cell phone.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lola Velazquez-Aguilu.

U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger thanked the Kanabec County Sheriff’s Office, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and the Minnesota Child Exploitation Task Force, which is sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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