Date: 10-19-2016

Case Style:

Case Number: 1:16-cr-00018-O-BL

Judge: Reed C. O’Connor

Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Taylor County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Juanita Fielden

Defendant's Attorney:

Ken Leggett

Description: Abilene, TX - Fort Worth Man Sentenced to 172 Months in Federal Prison for Kidnapping and Enticing Two Teenage Girls to Engage in Sexual Activity

A Fort Worth, Texas, resident, Robert Blaine Harris, 50, was sentenced to 172 months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in July 2016 to an indictment charging one count of enticement of a minor and aiding and abetting.

Harris has been in custody since his arrest in January 2016

According to documents filed in the case, beginning in December 2015, Harris engaged in a relationship with a minor, Jane Doe 1, using Skout, an online dating application. Harris persuaded, induced, and enticed Jane Doe 1 and another 13-year-old female, Jane Doe 2, to engage in sexual activity.

On January 2, 2016, Harris acknowledged in a message that he knew both girls were “underage and I could get in really big trouble and that would ruin my life.” In the early morning hours of January 2, 2016, Harris traveled to Abilene and picked up the two 13-year-old females and transported them to his residence in Fort Worth to engage in sexual activity. The two juvenile females were recovered by law enforcement at Harris’ residence on January 9, 2016, after Harris called the Fort Worth police.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Project Safe Childhood (PSC) initiative. PSC is a department initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, tribal and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. Since FY 2011, the Department of Justice has filed 20,260 PSC cases against 19,111 defendants. These cases include prosecutions of child sex trafficking; sexual abuse of a minor or ward; child pornography offenses; obscene visual representation of the sexual abuse of children; selling or buying of children; and many more statutes. To learn more about PSC’s work, please visit: https://www.justice.gov/psc.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), San Angelo Police Department, Abilene Police Department and Fort Worth Police Department investigated the case.

Outcome: Defendant was sentenced to 172 months in federal prison.

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Defendant's Experts:

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