Robert Allen Yost, Child Exploitation, Arizona 2022

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Child Predator Caught: Phoenix Man Sentenced to 188 Months in Prison

A 61-year-old Phoenix man has been sentenced to 188 months in prison for his role in child exploitation offenses, announced Grimy Times.

Robert Allen Yost, of Phoenix, Arizona, was sentenced on October 21, 2022 by United States District Judge Jennifer G. Zipps to 188 months in prison for child exploitation offenses. Yost previously pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Sex Traffic Children and Production of Child Pornography, as well as Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens for Profit.

According to officials, Yost was initially encountered by United States Border Patrol agents in March 2020, who were investigating smuggling activities along State Route 80. A search of his phone revealed child exploitation content, which led to a subsequent investigation.

During his guilty plea on January 18, 2022, Yost admitted to exchanging pictures and videos depicting child sexual abuse with other individuals via text messages and the internet. He also admitted to asking another individual to send sexually explicit images of a child in that individual’s custody and offering methamphetamine in exchange for sexual access to the child.

The intended sexual activity with the child did not take place due to other intervening circumstances.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.

Upon release from prison, Yost will be placed on lifetime supervised release with sex offender conditions and will be required to register as a sex offender.

Customs and Border Protection’s U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carin Duryee and Jared Kreamer Hope, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.