Belleville man gets four years in prison for child luring

COURTS: Tried to lure 13-year-old

BELLEVILLE -- A man who pleaded guilty to child pornography and child luring charges was sentenced to four years in custody in a facility where court officials hope he can learn to overcome his urges.

Samuel Robbins, 21, pleaded guilty to five counts in the Superior Court of Justice Monday afternoon. He pleaded to two counts of possessing child pornography, one count of communicating with a person under the age of 16 with the intent of commissioning sex and two counts of failing to comply with recognizance orders.

Shortly after entering the plea, Robbins was sentenced to four years in custody by Justice Richard Byers.

In June 2013, Robbins contacted A 13-yearold boy through the social media website Facebook. In September, the boy spoke with his stepmother about the nature of some of the messages he had received from Robbins and indicated he was uncomfortable. The woman called Belleville Police. During the police investigation, Robbins tried to communicate again with the boy.

In October 2013, police searched Robbins’ residence where they found a laptop with videos of child pornography playing. One showed a child estimated to be seven years old, another video showed a boy between the ages of seven and 11 performing sexual acts.

In addition they seized a USB drive containing 217 photos of child pornography, 253 images of child nudity and 55 videos of child pornography. Most of the videos depicted prepubescent boys engaged in sexual acts. Also on the drive was a number of naked “selfies” of Robbins.

Police launched a second search in May 2015 where a cellphone, tablet and USB drives were seized. An analysis of the phone revealed 8,825 images with 1,709 being pictures of child pornography with victims ranging in age from infants to teenagers. Another 6,941 images were of children that did not fit the definition of pornography.

Robbins has assisted with blood drives, Relay for Life, a member of Sea Cadets for six years.

After delivering his sentence, Byers urged the man to work on overcoming the sexual urges through treatment and counselling.