Robert L. Payne, 77, of Fenton has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison for soliciting nude pictures from an undercover police officer who was posing as a teenager, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
Payne pleaded guilty on Aug. 9 to felony solicitation of child pornography, and U.S. District Judge U.S. District Ronnie L. White handed down the sentence on Nov. 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, court records show.
Also, Payne will be on supervised release for life after he gets out of prison and has been banned from parks, playgrounds and other places where children gather, according to court documents.
Payne initially was charged in March 2021 with solicitation of child pornography and coercion and enticement of a minor, but the coercion and enticement of a minor charge was dropped in exchange for his guilty plea to soliciting child pornography, according to his plea agreement.
After receiving numerous complaints about Payne’s behavior, St. Louis County Police monitored Fenton City Park, 1215 Larkin Williams Road, between March 1, 2021, and March 4, 2021. During that period, Payne spent hours at the park in a red 2001 Ford Ranger and repeatedly tried to talk with adolescent boys, the report said.
On March 2, 2021, Payne moved his pickup about 18 times to different areas of the park, including one where the Lindbergh High School boys lacrosse team was practicing. On March 3, 2021, Payne allegedly tried to talk to about a dozen boys near the park’s basketball courts, according to the report.
The St. Louis County Police detective posed as a teen, and Payne met him on March 8 on the basketball courts at the park. During their discussion, the officer told Payne he was 16 years old, and Payne allegedly solicited sex with the officer that day and later through emails. Payne also asked the officer to send him lewd pictures, the report said.
Payne admitted he was investigated by Velda City Police in January 2013 when he communicated for 25 days through email with an undercover officer pretending to be a 15-year-old. Payne continuously tried to arrange a meeting to have sex with the officer and was arrested after going to meet the officer.
Payne had two guns in his vehicle when he was arrested by Velda City Police, but he was never charged in the case, according to the report.
In July 2018, Payne was arrested by Sunset Hills Police, and the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged him with sexual misconduct and attempted statutory sodomy following an incident in Minnie Ha Ha Park, where he approached a 16-year-old boy and offered him sex, the report said.
However, in April 2019 Payne pleaded guilty to the harassment charge, was sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to stay out of Minnie Ha Ha Park. The jail sentence was suspended, and Payne was placed on two years’ probation, court records show.
The St. Louis County Police and FBI investigated the recent case against Payne. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson handled the case.
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, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, go to justice.gov/psc.
