RAF MILDENHALL, England — British authorities have sentenced a U.S. Air Force staff sergeant stationed at RAF Alconbury, England, to 30 months in prison after he pressured a teenage girl to give him indecent photos, officials said.
Staff Sgt. Curtis Robinson pleaded guilty to possession and distribution of indecent imagery and to prompting a child to engage in pornography, the Cambridgeshire Constabulary said. He was sentenced in Peterborough Crown Court on March 4 and placed on a registry for sex offenders.
A spokesman for the 501st Combat Support Wing said Robinson was assigned to the 423rd Communications Squadron at RAF Alconbury.
Robinson, 24, used a false identity to develop a relationship with a 14-year-old girl online and obtained images of her, according to the constabulary.
The airman “then began to incite her into sending him more images, threatening to share the images he had from the fake account over the internet if she did not,” according to a constabulary news release.
Cambridgeshire Detective Constable Gareth Purdy said in the release that Robinson “was fully aware” of the victim’s age and “tried to take advantage of her vulnerability.”
The U.S. Air Force has no plans to convene a court-martial over this incident, and administrative actions, which can include a discharge, are not releasable, the 501st spokesman said. However, the service implemented a policy last year that requires airmen convicted of a range of sexual offenses be discharged.
