PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A man already on Massachusetts’ sex offender registry has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison for traveling to Rhode Island to engage in sexual activity with what he thought was a 15-year-old boy.
Federal prosecutors say 57-year-old Robert Eccleston, of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, was also sentenced Tuesday to a lifetime of probation. He pleaded guilty last September.
Prosecutors say Eccleston responded to an online personal ad from someone who said they were 18. In several online conversations, the person said they were 15. The ad was actually placed by an undercover state police detective.
In July 2016, Eccleston traveled to East Providence to meet who he thought was a 15-year-old boy and was arrested.
Prosecutors say Eccleston was a registered sex offender for a 2006 rape conviction.
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