Rene Roberge, 47, of Quebec is facing ten-years-to-life in prison after getting caught trying to arrange a sexual tryst in Broward with who he thought was an underage boy.
According to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Roberge traveled from Canada to Fort Lauderdale on November 9 after exchanging messages with an undercover Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent who was posing as a 14-year-old boy on a social media site. The agent also pretended to be the boy's father, and made it seem as if the wanted to arrange a meeting to have sex with the supposed teen boy and Roberge.
Roberge belonged to an online chat group titled "How sick and twisted are you," where he shared how he had been looking for a dad who would be willing to share his young son, the complaint says.
According to an email by the special agent, Vanessa Blanco, obtained by CBCNews in Canada, Roberge claimed that he had a near-death experience that inspired him to look into living out all his fantasies and to "realize (his perv) dreams."
Roberge told the undercover agent that he was willing to travel to Fort Lauderdale for what Blanco claims he called a "hot and horny time."
When he was apprehended at Fort Lauderdale International Airport, Roberge admitted that he was also planning to travel to Texas for a similar tryst with a 15-year-old boy he met online. Federal agents also found that his iPad had around 150 child porn images in it, including the boy he was planning to meet in Texas. The complaint says that enforcement officers also found lubricant, condoms, and gifts in Roberge's luggage.
He was charged with enticement of a minor, and traveling into the United States with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
In March, Roberge plead guilty to the charges. According to prosecutors, Roberge had made hotel reservations in Pompano Beach.
Roberge is scheduled to be sentenced in Miami on Thursday, the Sun-Sentinel reports, and prosecutors have asked the judge to impose a more severe sentence than usual since some of the images found on his iPad included a prepubescent minor, as well as sadistic or masochistic images of boys.