Accused Silver Spring Sex Offender Gets 27 Months

A Silver Spring man was sentenced to 27 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and unlawful possession of methamphetamine, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials.

On April 27, 2011 Robert R. Welch, 43, came into contact with an undercover officer with the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force and engaged in an online conversation. Welch expressed interest in having sexual contact with an under-aged child, according to an official court document.

In the statement FBI officials said, Welch also had two phone conversations in which he discussed a plan to meet the child from the online chat room to use methamphetamines.

Welch was arrested by police officials when he arrived at a pre-arranged location to meet the minor, FBI officials said. An undisclosed amount of methamphetamine was recovered in his vehicle, according to the release.

After Welch is released from prison, he will be placed on a five-year supervised release and will have to register as a sex offender, including limitations on access to and contact with minors, computers, and the Internet., FBI officials said.

This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative and investigated by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the Metropolitan Police Department.
Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.