AUGUSTA — Convicted sex offender Robert L. Robinson III, 34, of Augusta, was arrested Thursday on three charges of possession of sexually explicit material of child under the age of 12.

Robinson’s arrest follows a months-long investigation starting in January when police heard complaints of him photographing young girls in public.

“Detectives from the Augusta Police Department obtained a search warrant, and worked in conjunction with the Maine Computer Crimes Task Force to execute the warrant in search of evidence of the reported crimes,” Augusta Police Department Deputy Chief Kevin Lully wrote in a Thursday morning press release.

Lully said detectives combed through all the images on Robinson’s various social media accounts leading to the three charges.

“We would like to thank the public for their assistance and patience; cases of this nature take time due the complexity of obtaining evidence,” he said.

Robinson is a lifetime registrant on the sex offender registry. He was sentenced in 2006 to serve an initial six months in prison, with the remainder of the five-year sentence suspended, and four years probation, on three counts of engaging in a sexual act with another person that has not attained the age of 14 years, according to the Maine Sex Offender Registry.

The Maine Legislature, prompted by the outrage this winter, began work on a law to try and curb behavior similar to Robinson’s. On April 2, a law was enacted to protect children under 14 from being photographed by “Certain Persons.”

The law states “a person photographing another person who has not in fact attained 14 years of age after the person’s having been notified, in writing or otherwise, by a law enforcement officer, corrections officer or judicial officer not to engage in that conduct. The notification not to engage in that conduct expires after a year.”

The current law differs heavily from the proposed law introduced to the Legislature, which began as “An Act To Establish as a Class D Crime the Intentional Photographing of a Minor without Consent of the Minor’s Parent or Guardian by an Individual Required To Register as a Sex Offender.”

Class D crimes are punishable by up to one year in prison and/or fines of up to $2,000.

Rep. Matt Pouliot, R-Augusta, sponsor of the bill, told the Kennebec Journal in January that he introduced the legislation after hearing from upset constituents.

Robinson’s bail is set at $15,000 cash with conditions of no contact with children under 16 years of age. Robinson is being held at the Kennebec County Jail.

This story will be updated.

Sam Shepherd — 621-5666

sshepherd@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @SamShepME