(US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE) – A New York man pleaded guilty on Monday in the Eastern District of New York to sexually assaulting a five-year-old child in Grenada.
According to court documents, during a trip to Grenada in October 2019, Treverson Roberts, 27, of Brooklyn, a dual United States and Grenadian citizen, forced a five-year-old boy to perform oral sex on him while the boy was temporarily left in Roberts’ care.
Roberts previously pleaded guilty to Grenadian charges related to the abuse but did not receive a sentence of imprisonment. Rather, the Grenadian court fined him $1,500 and required him to pay $600 compensation to the victim.
Roberts pleaded guilty to engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in a foreign place and faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Rick J. Patel for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York made the announcement.
HSI New York’s Child Exploitation Investigations Unit investigated the case with valuable assistance provided by the HSI Caribbean Attaché Office and the Royal Grenada Police Force.
Trial Attorney Charles Schmitz of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Zuckerwise for Eastern District of New York are prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and 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.justice.gov/psc.
