Robison

From Mirror staff reports

A California man accused of driving across the country to sleep with a city teen has been denied bail.

Don Robison, 41, of Milpitas, Calif., was arraigned Monday before Magisterial District Judge Fred B. Miller on three felony charges of unlawful contact with a minor-sexual offenses, a single felony count of corruption of minors-defendant age 18 or above and a felony count of criminal use of a communication facility. He also faces two misdemeanor charges of indecent assault of a person less than 16 years of age.

Bail was denied due to “flight risk, threat to community, nature of charges (current and prior),” court documents state. Robison is a registered sex offender on California’s Megan’s Law website.

His preliminary hearing is set for March 22 before Magisterial District Judge Benjamin F. Jones.

According to court documents, Altoona police began the investigation into Robison on Jan. 30, 2022, when a mother on the 1900 block of Sixth Avenue reported that her 14-year-old daughter was communicating with a 40-year-old man known as “Johnny Smith.” The teen admitted that she disabled the home’s security cameras on Jan. 28 and Jan. 29, 2022, so that the man could enter the home through an unlocked window, court documents state.

The victim said she and the male “kissed and cuddled all night” before he left in the early morning hours.

In August 2022, the case was referred to the Office of the Attorney General for help in tracking “Johnny Smith.”

Through a monthslong investigation by Altoona police and Attorney General agents, Johnny Smith was identified as Robison through subpoenas and search warrants for his Pinterest, Lobby and Google accounts as well as an Amazon gift card he sent the victim and his travel on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

On Sept. 27, a search warrant on Pinterest was issued for all information regarding Robison’s account and the documents — 10,912 pages in all — were certified by Pinterest on Oct. 5, court documents state.

The search turned up information regarding Robison, who, using the screen name Ojohnnysmith, began communicating with the Altoona teen on Dec. 17, 2021.

The online conversations were often sexual in nature, court documents state, and included explicit references.

On Dec. 30, 2021, the conversation focused on their ages, with Robison claiming to be a 14-year-old, but asking “What if I’m older, what would you do?” The victim replies, “If you was a grown man, I would block you in never talk to you again.”

When the victim asks if he is 13, Robison says he “can’t answer that question.”

Throughout the conversation, Robison makes reference to his age, finally asking if the victim likes beer in 40 oz bottles, indicating he is 40 years old, court documents state.

The victim tells Robison to find someone his own age and when he writes that he wants to be with her, she responds “That’s illegal.”

Despite knowing his age, the victim continues to have conversations with Robison throughout January. Those conversations — in which Robison is accused of “grooming” the victim — include explicit sexual references, directions on how to disarm her home’s security system and directions for leaving a ladder out so he could enter the house through the second-story window.

According to the California Megan’s Law database, Robison was convicted in 2016 of lewd or lascivious acts with a child 14 or 15 years of age. He was also convicted of indecent exposure that same year, although it’s unclear if it was the same case.