SCRANTON — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle), published as received.
SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Robert Duus, age 35, of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on August 11, 2021, to 120 months’ imprisonment to be followed by a 5-year term of supervised release, by United States District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion for using the internet to attempt to entice a 12-year-old minor female to engage in prohibited sex acts.
According to Acting United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, on September 24, 2020, during an on-line communication with a law enforcement officer posing as the mother of a minor female, Duus agreed to pay money to the mother in exchange for sexual intercourse with the minor and then traveled to a location in Tannersville, PA for the purpose of meeting the mother and minor and paying for sex. Duus was arrested on scene.
At sentencing, Judge Mannion also ordered Duus to comply with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Philadelphia Division and its state and local law enforcement partners in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Assistant United States Attorney Jeffery St. John prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.
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