A 67-year-old Sewickley, Pennsylvania man and registered sex offender was sentenced to 156 months in federal prison for possessing graphic child pornography, including videos and images of minors as young as 12 years old. Robert Roy Hegner’s conviction marks another grim chapter in a criminal history stretching back to the late 1990s.
U.S. District Judge Mark R. Hornak handed down the sentence, which will be followed by lifetime supervised release. The ruling comes after Hegner was found in possession of computer files containing material depicting the sexual exploitation of minors on August 25, 2016. Federal prosecutors stressed that the content involved prepubescent children, some not yet 12, engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Hegner is no stranger to the justice system. In 1999, he was convicted of Indecent Assault, Endangering the Welfare of a Child, Corruption of Minors, and Sexual Abuse of Children (F3). At the time of this federal offense, he was a registered offender under Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law, which requires monitoring of individuals convicted of sex crimes against minors.
Assistant United States Attorney Jessica Lieber Smolar prosecuted the case, leveraging digital evidence recovered during a coordinated investigation. The probe was initiated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with critical support from the Allegheny County District Attorney Investigations Unit and the Allegheny County Police Department. Agents traced and seized electronic devices used by Hegner to store and access the illicit material.
U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady, who announced the sentence, praised the collaborative effort behind the prosecution. “This sentence reflects our unwavering commitment to holding predators accountable,” Brady said. “Hegner abused the system once before—and he thought he could do it again. He was wrong.”
The case was prosecuted under Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation. The program unites federal, state, and local law enforcement to dismantle networks of abuse, identify victims, and bring offenders to justice. For more information, visit www.justice.gov/psc.
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Key Facts
- State: Pennsylvania
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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