Gloucester Man Charged with Sexual Exploitation of a Minor

BOSTON – A Gloucester man was arrested and charged yesterday with sexual exploitation of a minor.

Robert Burnham, 44, is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor. Burnham was arrested yesterday and made his initial appearance in federal court in Boston. He has been detained pending a hearing on Sept. 8, 2025.

According to the charging documents, from on or about June 11, 2024 to Oct 4, 2024, Burnham allegedly persuaded and coerced a 13-year-old minor female to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing pictures and videos of such conduct and transmitting the pictures and videos to him via social media.

Specifically, it is alleged that Burnham met the minor victim on Snapchat and told her he was in her grade. Burnham then allegedly started asking the minor victim about people that she knew and sent her a picture of her father’s Facebook account. It is alleged that Burnham claimed he had sexually explicit photos of the minor victim, that he knew her father and that he would send the pictures to her father if she did not send him sexually explicit pictures and videos of herself. Burnham then allegedly told the minor victim to make an account on JusTalk, a China-based messaging application, and moved their conversation to that application.

Over the course of four months, Burnham allegedly coerced the minor victim into creating and sending numerous sexually explicit videos and pictures. It is alleged that Burnham would give the minor victim detailed instructions about what to do in each video or picture and, when she did not comply or respond right away, he would threaten her. Specifically, Burnham allegedly told the minor victim that he was “going to put f*****g hands on [her]” and that he was going to rape her.

It is further alleged that Burnham communicated with other minors on Snapchat to whom he similarly suggested that he had nude images of them that he would send to the minors’ families if they did not do what he asked. Burnham allegedly exchanged messages with two different users who told him that they were 12 years old.

The charge of sexual exploitation of a minor provides for a sentence of at least 15 years in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by Harper County Sheriff’s Office, FBI Kansas City and the Gloucester Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Allegra Flamm of the Major Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.