A San Rafael man was sentenced to five years in prison for soliciting child pornography from a child he groomed over the internet.
Robert Haeuser, 33, pleaded guilty to the charge last December, U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey and Federal Bureau of Investigations Special Agent in Charge Robert K. Tripp announced on Tuesday.
Haeuser began communicating with the 11-year-old victim through the chat function of a mobile game in 2015. The victim lived with her parents in Houston while Haeuser lived in Marin County.
By November 2015, he was aware the victim was not yet in high school and by 2016, they had a conversation in which he acknowledged she was not older than 12 and if their conversations go public, “I would be in jail.”
Eventually, Haeuser and the victim began communicating through email. He repeatedly asked the victim to make sexually explicit images and videos of herself and send them to him.
The DOJ release states the victim complied with his requests.
Between July 15, 2015, and October 5, 2017, Haeuser and the victim exchanged around 20,760 emails and 13,600 text messages.
The victim sent him at least 29 images and four videos of herself in sexually explicit conduct.
On May 3, 2022, Haeuser was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with one count of receipt of child pornography. He will be serving five years in prison and ordered to serve 10 years of supervised release after his prison term.
The Hon. Judge Susan Illston of the US District Court ordered Haeuser to begin serving his term on Aug. 25, 2023.
