A federal judge this week sentenced a Texas man to 20 years in prison for transporting a minor to a “furry” convention in Atlanta in 2024 for his sexual gratification.

Joseph Ray Robertson, 37, of Frisco, TX, pleaded guilty to transportation of minors and was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Richard Schell, according to federal prosecutors. He also imposed lifetime supervised release on the defendant.

According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas:

Furry refers to a subculture of enthusiasts of anthropomorphic (human-like) animals in which fans create animal characters with human personalities and traits. Robertson commissioned an elaborate, custom-made costume to further facilitate his furry persona. While at the convention, Robertson sexually abused the child by engaging in acts that would constitute child molestation and sodomy under Georgia State law. Additionally, Robertson purchased sexual stimulants and devices at the convention, and commissioned artwork depicting his furry persona engaged in sex acts with the minor victim.

“This defendant’s actions were depraved and absolutely justify every day of the imposed 20-year sentence,” said U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs. “Most children’s experiences with people costumed as animals comes in the context of fun encounters in theme parks. This defendant turned a furry costume into a nightmare of sexual abuse.”

He continued, “It shocks the conscience It shocks the conscience that a child was allowed into a convention where adults were dressed up as furry animals and sex devices were being sold. Not one person in that convention contacted the authorities to protect the child.”

The age of the minor has not been revealed by prosecutors or news outlets.

It has become clear the furry movement, which traces its U.S. roots back to the 1970s, is not always something that is fun or games for kids, though proponents claim participants have been stereotyped as partaking in a “sexual fetish.”

“Is being a furry just a sexual fetish,” Vox asked in a 2014 article.

According to Vox:

No, though, like with any other fan interest (video games, comics, etc.) there are sexual themes present. While sexual activity with other furries (known as “yiffing,” after the sound foxes make during sex) is part of the subculture for some, others maintain a non-erotic interest in the subject.

According to a studies cited by a website called furscience.com, “Only about 20 percent of furries self-identified as hetrosexual.”

Most others were spread across other categories of the “Kinsey scale” (used in research to describe a person’s sexual identification) with the rest of the respondents identifying as “bisexual,” “pansexual,” or “lesbian, gay, or homosexual.”

The case involving Robertson was part of Project Safe Childhood, “a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse,” prosecutors said.

Breitbart contributor  Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets , which documents one of the worst cases of child sex abuse in U.S. history, and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.