The juvenile sexually assaulted by a 31-year-old man last fall had met the predator through a widely used social media platform that automatically deletes messages between users, according to testimony cited in a New Canaan Police detective’s sworn affidavit.
Leland Robinson. Photo courtesy of the New Canaan Police Department
The 14-year-old had connected with Leland Robinson through Snapchat a few weeks before the Oct. 24 incident that led to the latter’s initial arrest on charges of interfering with police, according an arrest warrant application from Sgt. Joseph Farenga. The juvenile’s father phoned police to report a suspicious male in his driveway, and Robinson when police confronted him walking along Oenoke Ridge gave a false name and birth date.
Police interviewed the juvenile that same night at home and again the following day at NCPD headquarters. Initially, the teen denied knowing Robinson and told police they “did not have any visitors” at home, the affidavit said. The juvenile also told authorities that the teen’s own cellphone could’t be located, according to the affidavit.
During the Oct. 25 interview at the police station, the juvenile admitted to knowing where their cellphone was, according to the Nov. 13 arrest warrant application, signed by a state Superior Court judge. The teen also said that Robinson had come to New Canaan to sell the juvenile a JUUL vaping kit.
The victim “told officers Robinson agreed to give [the juvenile] the JUUL in exchange for sexual favors instead of cash,” it said. “[The juvenile] did not give officers details but stated Robinson wanted to have sex with [the juvenile], kiss private areas of [the juvenile’s] body and [that Robinson] even sent [the juvenile] a picture” of his genitals.
The teen then turned over their cellphone to police and the juvenile’s mother signed a consent form to have it searched. A forensic analysis of the device revealed sexually explicit text exchanges with Robinson and indicated that Robinson and the juvenile had met in person in the past and had sexual contact—revelations that led immediately to another interview, held Nov. 8 at police headquarters.
The victim’s mother was present at the start of the interview, and the teen “initially denied ever meeting Robinson in person” and “continued to deny it” even as police began reading out the explicit text exchanges that the teen had had with the Mount Vernon, N.Y. man.
The teen told police that the reason for using sexual language was to get Robinson to sell the JUUL kit. (Robinson had told police the same story about the vaping kit when first confronted along Oenoke Ridge.)
Police told the juvenile they did not believe the teen was telling the truth, the arrest warrant application said. The juvenile’s mother then asked whether the teen wanted her to leave the room and the teen said yes, and she left.
The juvenile then disclosed to police that the two had met once before—a few weeks before the Oct. 24 incident—in the teen’s backyard, the arrest warrant application said. The teen “stated all they did was make out” and that Robinson touched the juvenile’s backside while both were clothed, the affidavit said. The teen added that “Robinson wanted to do more” but that the juvenile “got scared and ran inside the house,” it said.
Things went further on Oct. 24, according to the teen’s testimony, cited in the police affidavit.
“[The juvenile] stated [the juvenile] wanted a JUUL and knew the only way Robinson would bring one would be if [the juvenile] agreed to be physical with him,” the arrest warrant application said. “[The juvenile] stated when [the juvenile] knew Robinson was at [the juvenile’s] house at 10/24/19, [the juvenile] snuck outside and they met in [the juvenile’s] backyard.”
The pair was engaged in sexual contact when the teen “heard [the juvenile’s] father coming outside so [the juvenile] panicked, told Robinson to leave and [the juvenile] went back inside,” Farenga’s affidavit said.
The juvenile told investigators that the teen believed Robinson to be a minor, just 16 or 17 years old, and didn’t know that Robinson was 31 until police shared that information on Oct. 25. Robinson “looked much younger,” the juvenile told police.
“Detective [Thomas] Patten and I told [the juvenile] this was not [the juvenile’s] fault; that Robinson was a predator who knew exactly what he was doing,” Farenga said in the application. “[The juvenile] stated it was [the juvenile’s] fault for making Robinson come to [the juvenile’s] house but we told [the juvenile] Robinson was a grown man and [the juvenile] did not force him to take the train from Mount Vernon, N.Y. to New Canaan, CT and then walk three miles to [the juvenile’s] house.”
It’s unclear whether Robinson would have been caught at all if police hadn’t located him as he walked back toward the train station on Oct. 24 and identified inconsistencies in his story.
The first thing he told officers when asked where he was coming from was that he’d gone to a friend’s house “after soccer practice,” the affidavit said.
“The individual proceeded to state that when leaving his friend’s house he was going to order an Uber but his phone had died,” it said. “He further told officers that his friends told him they could not order him an Uber because they had no WiFi at their house.”
Robinson “began to sweat profusely from his forehead” while talking to police and “tried ending the conversation by saying he needed to get home to do homework or else his mother would be mad at him,” the arrest warrant application said.
“When officers asked the individual where he was walking to, he stated he was walking to a house on Main Street to pick up his backpack. When officers asked if he could provide the address of the residence on Main Street, the individual stated he did not know the address but that it was near Citibank. When officers asked the individual if he could provide an ID he stated he did not have one on him. The individual then stated his name was Shannon Robinson and his date of birth was 6/2/01. As officers questioned if he was actually 18 years old, the individual responded ‘I’m about to be 18.’ ”
That information returned no matches in the state’s criminal justice database, the affidavit said.
Robinson “continued to act nervous and tell officers he needed to get to Main Street but declined officers’ offer of a ride.”
“The individual stated he could call his mother and have her meet him at the bank but fumbled through his pockets and told officers he could not find his phone,” the application said. “At that point Ofc. [George] Caponera pointed out that the individual’s cell phone was in his pocket and was clearly powered on, not dead like he previously stated. The individual then said he didn’t have service for a call. Officers requested his mother’s phone number so they could call for him and he gave the offers her number. The dispatcher then made contact with her and she stated she lived in North Carolina and that the individual’s name was actually Leland Robinson DOB 6/2/88.”
The interfering charge followed, and after the cellphone and analysis and interviews with the victim, on Dec. 27, police issued a media bulletin saying that Robinson now was wanted on felony charges of second-degree sexual assault, fourth-degree sexual assault, risk of injury to a child and enticing a minor by computer.
On Jan. 6, members of the FBI Fugitive Task Force office out of New York, in partnership with the New Canaan Police Investigative Section, concluded that Robinson was in Brooklyn, N.Y. The FBI took custody of Robinson of him and, on Jan. 9, New Canaan Police took custody of him in New York County Court in Manhattan on the active warrant. He was transported to New Canaan Police headquarters for processing.
Robinson hasn’t yet pleaded, according to Connecticut Judicial Branch records. He has been released on $75,000 bond and scheduled to appear Feb. 26 in state Superior Court in Norwalk.
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