Ford County man convicted for the second time of Enticement of a Minor
FORD COUNTY, Ill. (WICS) — A Ford County man was found guilty, for the second time on Thursday of one count of enticement of a minor.
Robert Shawn Anderson, 54, of the 300 block of Spruce Street in Paxton, Illinois faces 10 years to life imprisonment, followed by 5 years to life of supervised release, and must register as a sex offender.
The case was being tried for the second time after the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that in the initial trial, Anderson should have been able to argue that law enforcement had entrapped him into trying to have sex with a person he thought was a 15-year-old girl.
Anderson arranged to meet an individual he believed to be a 15-year-old minor for sexual activity on the dating application MeetMe. The government also proved that law enforcement had not entrapped Anderson into his attempted sexual liaison with a child.
Anderson was arrested over Valentine’s Day weekend 2020 as part of a Federal Bureau of Investigation operation conducted in Kankakee County, Ill.
The operation, dubbed Cupid’s Arrow, was conducted with the assistance of the Bradley Police Department, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office, and the Kankakee Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Shannon O’Brien who is also Deputy Bureau Chief for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas McMeyer represented the government at the trial before U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm.
Sentencing for Anderson has been scheduled on July 10, 2023 before Judge Mihm at the U.S. Courthouse in Urbana, Illinois.
