Columbia Man Charged with Enticement of a Minor

On February 24, 2011, Roy R. Browne, 28, of Columbia, Illinois, was indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in East St. Louis, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. The indictment charges Browne with enticement of a minor. The violation is alleged to have taken place on February 4, 2011, in Monroe County, Illinois.

Trial has been set for May 2, 2011. If convicted, Browne faces a term of imprisonment of not less than 10 years nor more than life imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and a term of supervised release of five years to life.

An indictment is merely the method by which federal charges are lodged. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was investigated by the Columbia, Illinois, Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Metro East Cyber Crimes and Analysis Task Force. The case is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Angela Scott.