A Minneapolis man has been sentenced to 27 years in federal prison for production of child pornography after exploiting a minor victim for years, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen announced this week.
Court documents state that Robert James Levi, now 23, began a three-year period of conduct in February 2022 that included coercing and enticing a 12-year-old girl in another state into producing child sexual abuse material and sending it to him over the internet.
A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office describes that Levi “catfished” the victim, posing as a 16-year-old boy, exchanging over 112,000 messages with the victim, and convincing the victim she was in a “relationship” with Levi. But Levi was, in fact, an adult man. And, during the period of illicit activity, Levi became a convicted sex offender as a result of a separate Minnesota case.
In June 2023, Levi was charged in Stearns County with second-degree criminal sexual conduct for sexually touching a 6-year-old child he was not related to, but who lived in the same residence where Levi was renting a room.
Levi pleaded guilty to the felony charge in October 2023 and was sentenced in February 2024. However, Levi’s 36-month prison sentence was stayed by Stearns County Judge Nathaniel Welte, a 2020 Gov. Tim Walz appointee. Levi was instead sentenced to only one day of confinement that he had already served in jail and was placed on probation.
According to federal court documents, Levi’s conduct with the out-of-state 12-year-old had continued uninterrupted throughout the course of the Stearns County case and his probation throughout 2023, 2024, and into February 2025, after which Levi was indicted in the federal case and was taken into federal custody in April 2025.
The charges in the federal case were bolstered by the fact that Levi became a registered sex offender during the course of his conduct with the out-of-state teen.
In a presentencing document, Levi’s attorney requested the sentence be limited to the mandatory minimum required of 300 months, but that was ultimately rejected and Levi was sentenced to 327 months.
Federal offenders must serve a minimum of 85% of their sentence incarcerated before becoming eligible for parole.
The case was the result of an investigation by the FBI.
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
