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Asheville -- June 3, 2022: Dena J. King, United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, announced yesterday that a Buffalo, New York man who traveled to Western North Carolina to engage in sexual behavior with a minor was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Allen Roger Cobb, 63, was sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release and was compelled to register as a sex offender in addition to his jail sentence. Cobb began speaking online with an undercover HSI agent masquerading as the parent of a minor female in July 2021, according to court filings and today's sentence hearing. Cobb expressed an interest in having sexual contact with the minor and discussed travel arrangements and specifics around the sexual assault during the internet chats. Cobb showed anxiety to the HSI agent about being tracked by law enforcement because of his sex offender registration status, according to court filings, and underlined the significance of being covert in their interactions.
Cobb was arrested after traveling from Buffalo to Western North Carolina to engage in a sexual conduct with a juvenile
on August 31, 2021. Law authorities discovered a stuffed toy Cobb had purchased as a gift for the youngster, as well as a camcorder that Cobb intended to use to capture the sexual assault, when he was arrested.
Cobb pleaded guilty to traveling to engage in illegal sexual activity with a minor on December 29, 2021. He is currently in federal custody and will be transported to the federal Bureau of Prisons once a federal facility is designated.
HSI was thanked by US Attorney King for their investigation, which led to today's sentence. The case was prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Alexis I. Solheim of the US Attorney's Office in Asheville.
The case was presented as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide campaign launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to tackle the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood, led by US Attorneys' offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who exploit children through the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. Visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov for more information about Project Safe Childhood.
Wnctimes by Marjorie Farrington
