Honk News (Bolton, CT) – A convicted sex offender is accused of persuading a 10-year-old Snapchat user to send him graphic photos.
Connecticut State Police arrested 56-year-old Robert Cohs at his Bolton home for danger of injury to a minor and enticing a juvenile.
State police claimed Cohs began chatting with a girl on Snapchat in July and the conversation turned sexual, according to the warrant affidavit. The warrant document said investigators found compromising small photographs.
On July 7, the child’s mother reported an inappropriate discussion her 10-year-old daughter had with an unknown individual who only introduced himself as “Bob” to police at Troop C barracks in Tolland. The toddler seemed upset and had a tummy ache, so she checked his phone.
State police searched the child’s phone with the mother’s permission and found a July 5–6 communication with an unknown person. The warrant document stated that the child asked the man his age early on and he replied with an unrecoverable photo. The warrant document states that the child says, “Excuse me, you can’t be hurting me, I’m literally only 10,” early in the correspondence.
After exchanging an undisclosed photo and video, the male instructs the child, “You show me something first,” the warrant affidavit alleged.
The warrant affidavit said the male told the girl to “take the shorts off” after exchanging images.
State police asked Snapchat to preserve data from the child’s account and the mysterious user she was conversing with for the inquiry. A few weeks later, detectives found geolocation data on the man’s account showing it was pinging Bolton.
The warrant affidavit stated that state police located just “Bob C” on the account and that the date of birth indicated the user was 22. According to the warrant document, state police found that Cohs’ name resembled the user after investigating numerous places where the account was pinging. State police wrote that Cohs was a registered sex offender with a 1993 Florida conviction for attempted sexual violence on a minor under 12.
Vernon Police Department detectives helped state police examine the girl’s phone digitally. The warrant affidavit says investigators recovered many obscene Snapchat photographs.
State police acquired a warrant to search Cohs’ house and phone on July 30.
While being searched, Cohs agreed to speak with detectives. He told state police his past conviction was from the Coast Guard, admitting he “did do some bad things,” the warrant affidavit said.
The warrant document states that Cohs denied speaking with a kid about the current charges. His warrant affidavit stated that investigators showed him many retrieved photographs the girl received, one of which showed his dog and another his half-exposed shoulder in a shower.
State police said that Cohs sought to talk to an attorney and halted the interview after being told detectives had a search warrant for his phone.
Hartford’s Klingberg Children’s Advocacy Center conducted a forensic interview on the girl in August. In the warrant affidavit, she informed officials she met the male on Snapchat after he made her a friend request and did not know his age.
The warrant document said the kid said she was “forced” to submit the photo. The warrant affidavit stated that she stopped replying after he sent her a photo that made her “uncomfortable” and made her uncomfortable.
A judge issued Cohs’ arrest warrant last Monday. After his arrest, he was arraigned in Rockville Superior Court later that day.
Online court records show Cohs is on a $500,000 bail and scheduled back in court on Feb. 28. He has not pleaded.