A 24-year-old District man charged in an undercover sting told officers that he drove to middle schools and took photos of young girls and tried to pick them up, court documents said.
Robert Rason Henry, of Northeast Washington, was arrested Thursday night and charged in federal court with attempted enticement of a minor. He pleaded not guilty Friday, and was ordered held without bond pending a detention hearing Tuesday.
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Henry’s attorney could not be reached late Friday.
According to charging documents, an undercover police officer began chatting online with Henry in April on a social network frequented by people who have a sexual interest in children.
The undercover officer told Henry that the had been molesting his 12-year-old daughter since she was 4, documents said.
“Would love to tell you about my experiences, mostly fails lol,” Henry texted back, court papers said.
Over the next several weeks, Henry began to talk to the undercover officer through email, cell phone and instant messenger chat. He talked in detail about cruising middle schools in the District, looking for young girls and watching them, court papers said.
According to those court papers Henry described how he prefers black or Hispanic children between the ages of 4 and 12.
He sent the undercover officer a picture he took of the girl on Texas Avenue in Southeast.
The girl, about 10, was walking with her mother and Henry asked whether they needed a ride. The mother declined. He continued following the girl and her mother and later saw the same girl in a park.
He described going back to the same area over the next couple of days and seeing little girls.
Henry said he was “really about to snatch up one of these girls,” but he had to be careful because there were older girls around who might get in the way, documents said. He worried that his vehicle’s license plate was easy to remember.
On Thursday, Henry said he wanted to meet the undercover cop’s daughter that day and asked to hear her voice over the phone as proof that she existed, documents said.
Another law enforcement agent, posing as the child, began talking to her purported father. She then said, “Hey,” to Henry.
When Henry pulled into the front of the prearranged meeting spot in D.C., police arrested him.
On his cellphone, police also found five videos of child porn depicting girls under the age of 10 having sex with adult males, documents said.
