WINSTON COUNTY, Ala. (WBRC) – A man accused of traveling from states away to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex in Winston County has been sentenced by a federal judge to 40 years in prison.
According to court documents, 29-year-old Robert John Newman, Jr. traveled over 700 miles from his home in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania to Winston County to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex.
Court records say that from December 2024 to Jan. 4, 2025, Newman targeted the girl online through social media, befriending her by lying and “relentlessly coercing her into sending him child sex abuse material.”
FBI agents say that on Jan. 4, 2025, Newman went to the girl’s home while her mom was not home. The mom reportedly told agents that she checked her home’s security cameras and saw a man in her daughter’s bedroom. Then when she got home, she found Newman lying on her daughter’s bed.
Robert John Newman Jr.(Winston Co. Sheriff’s Office)
Court documents show that the mom pulled Newman off the bed, pinned him against the wall and demanded he give her his drivers license. Newman reportedly ran away, leaving to return home to Glenshaw, but he left his license.
According to Department of Justice, on Jan. 22, 2025, Newman was arrested in Pennsylvania on Alabama warrants. During the arrest, officers took Newman’s iPhone and FBI agents reviewed it, finding conversations between Newman and the victim, as well as child sex abuse material.
While reviewing his iPhone, investigators also found evidence that the girl from Winston County was not Newman’s only victim. After returning to Pennsylvania from Alabama, the FBI found that Newman was talking to an 11-year-old girl in Colorado, according to the Department of Justice.
Newman was indicted in April 2025 and in October 2025 he plead guilty to sexual exploitation of children, coercion and enticement of a minor, and travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
In February 2026, Newman was sentenced to 40 years in prison followed by a life term of supervised release. He is also ordered to pay a $5,000 special assessment under the Amy, Vicky and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act.
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