PROVIDENCE R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island man who traveled to Canada to have sex with a 13-year-old girl he met online has been sentenced to six years in prison, federal prosecutors say.
Herbert Rodas, 24, of Pawtucket, communicated with the girl for several months on social media and exchanged explicit photos with the girl before traveling to Winnipeg in April 2019 to meet her, according to a statement Wednesday from the U.S. attorney’s office in Providence.
He flew to Canada, paid cash for a hotel room, and met the girl in the room on several occasions over three days to engage in sexual activity, prosecutors said.
Federal authorities were alerted by Winnipeg police.
He pleaded guilty to engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in foreign places, transferring obscene material to a minor, and receipt of child pornography.
In addition to his prison term, he was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years of probation.
