A 34-year-old man who worked at a Colorado Springs school for at-risk children has been arrested on federal charges out of Massachusetts that allege he posed as a teen-ager while coaxing a 14-year-old girl to perform sex acts for him online.
Madison Dwayne Robinson has been charged with sexual exploitation of a minor, receipt of child pornography and enticement for sexual conduct, according to an arrest warrant by Michael Morizio, a special agent at Homeland Security Investigations’ Springfield, Mass. office.
Robinson worked at the Griffith Centers for Children Education, 10 Farragut Ave., and at Loyal Source Government Services, 2 N. Cascade Ave., both in Colorado Springs, according to an arrest warrant.
Robinson also had been arrested previously for a charge of felony unlawful sexual conduct without force. The charge was later dismissed.
When told of Robinson’s prior arrest, Barbara Ritchie, president of Griffith Centers for Children, replied, “No, don’t tell me that.”
Ritchie said that her centers use fingerprinting and criminal background checks, but when someone hasn’t been convicted they don’t always eliminate them for job consideration. After police contacted the company’s human resources department Monday, Griffith’s staff did their own investigation and learned that there had been no complaints of bad behavior against Robinson while he was an employee, she said.
“It could be worse. Nothing happened while he was here,” Ritchie said.
The investigation against Robinson began on June 15 when the mother of the alleged victim went to the Chicopee, Mass., police station. After discovering the nude pictures on her daughter’s phone, she did her own online research and discovered that her daughter was communicating with a man. She reported that her daughter had been coaxed into taking nude pictures of herself and sending them through an online application called “Kik Messenger.”
Robinson allegedly had an online alternative identity on Facebook. He claimed to be a 15-year-old Florida high school student with his first name spelled Maddison, with two ds. Robinson and the girl began to Skype and Facebook each other, according to U.S. District Court records in Denver. They had sexually explicit conversations and exchanged nude videos of themselves performing sex acts, court records say.
“I really, really am in love with you and I promise we will meet and I promise I will give you that wedding…,” Robinson told her on Skype. according to the records.
He told her he was on the football team and had practice from the time school let out until 7 p.m. “Robinson also went as far as sending Minor A a picture of himself in his football uniform,” Morizio wrote in his report. The girl eventually sent him 47 nude video clips of herself, the court records say.
A Colorado Springs police officer began investigating. He found booking photographs for Robinson when he was charged with a sex offense. Federal agents in Colorado Springs began surveillance of Robinson on the afternoon of Feb. 6. Robinson is being held pending extradition to Massachusetts.
The girl told a Chicopee detective in November that the mug shot of Robinson was the same person she had been corresponding with. Federal prosecutors and members of Homeland Security’s Boston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Financial Task Force got involved.
Griffiths has four residential homes for at-risk kids in Denver, Grand Junction, Greeley and Colorado Springs. Robinson, who was hired in January 2014, worked about once a week at the Colorado Springs facility, where about 48 girls and boys live, Ritchie said. His employment ended upon his arrest, she said.
“He worked our overnight shift while kids were asleep, making sure the kids didn’t get up,” Ritchie said. “Our kids come to us from the Department of Human Services after they’ve been in foster care. We are typically their last step.”
Police contacted the business on Monday, when they arrested Robinson.
“Knowing what I know now we would not have hired him,” Ritchie said.
