Lamar man pleads guilty to soliciting child prostitution after being arrested in Pueblo

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Pueblo County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) announced that a 72-year-old Lamar man recently pleaded guilty to soliciting for child prostitution in connection with his June 12, 2021, arrest in Pueblo.

Robert James Smith of Lamar was one of seven men arrested in June 2021, as part of Operation Predator, a sting conducted by the Department of Homeland Security and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. PCSO investigators were assigned and handled the Smith case and PCSO was the agency that charged Smith.

According to PCSO, Smith arranged to meet with what he thought were two girls ages 14 and 12, at a North Side Pueblo hotel for sex. Instead, Smith was communicating with undercover law enforcement.

After he arrived at the hotel, Smith paid $400 and was given a key to a room where the undercover officer said the teens were waiting. PCSO says that when he went to the room, he was met by law enforcement officers who arrested him.

PCSO says that Smith was sentenced to four years of probation. He also is now court-ordered to register as a sex offender.