BOARDMAN Man faces charges in sex case in Arkansas

The Boardman man thought he was meeting an 11-year-old, police said.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- A 72-year-old township man is facing felony charges in North Little Rock, Ark., after police say he drove there to have sex with what he thought was an 11-year-old girl.
According to Lt. Tracy Roulston, North Little Rock Police Department, Robert Soccorsi of Glenwood Avenue is charged with one count each of computer child pornography; criminal attempt of rape; and distributing, possessing and viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child. He is free on $100,000 bond and will be returning to Boardman, where he will be electronically monitored until his court date in North Little Rock.
Roulston said Soccorsi began communicating via e-mail in April with someone he thought was an 11-year-old girl. Soccorsi was actually corresponding with officers with the North Little Rock Police Department's Special Investigations Unit.
Arrested in Arkansas
A meeting was arranged, and Soccorsi drove to Arkansas to meet the girl. Police were waiting instead and took him into custody. Soccorsi did not resist, police said.
Roulston said Soccorsi made the 911-mile trek to North Little Rock expecting to pick up the child and take her to Canada. Police say Soccorsi expressed interest in having sex with the child.
"For the last 21/2 years [the North Little Rock Police Department] has been investigating these types of crimes," said Roulston. "Cases such as this are called travelers cases and we take these cases very seriously."
Roulston said Arkansas authorities had been investigating Soccorsi since the initial contact was made in April. He said Soccorsi had traveled the greatest distance of anyone investigated by the North Little Rock special investigations unit -- a unit assigned to handle such cases.
Search of home
Capt. Jack Nichols, Boardman Township police, said Soccorsi does not have an arrest record here. Township police, however, did execute a search warrant on Soccorsi's Glenwood Avenue home.
According to an evidence receipt, 22 items were taken from the home including a computer, an address book, pieces of paper, 34 compact discs, notebooks and a list of computer-related equipment. Police are not releasing what was in the notebooks or on the computer discs. Township officer James Briganti said the materials are still being evaluated.
Calls to Soccorsi's home Wednesday afternoon yielded only an answering machine.
jgoodwin@vindy.com