A former youth aviation leader has been charged for allegedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy.
Robb Szymik, 46, was charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child under 16, use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, two counts of soliciting a child for prostitution and child enticement in Outagamie County court Thursday for two incidents involving the boy in May and July 2017.
He's being held on a $50,000 cash bond.
On July 5, the Outagamie County Sheriff's Department responded to Fish Creek Road on the Oneida Reservation for a report of a suspicious vehicle. The caller told deputies the area is reserved for Oneida National tribal members only, and this person was not tribal, court documents said.
Deputies found Szymik in the driver's seat of a truck, according to the criminal complaint. Moments later, a witness told deputies she saw someone running down the road out of the tree line. Szymik claimed he didn't know the person, who was later identified as a 14-year-old boy, the criminal complaint said.
Szymik told deputies he was going for a run, but later admitted he met the 14-year-old on a dating app to "hook up," according to court documents.
He claimed he did not know how old the boy was.
The teen told deputies he met Szymik on the app "Grindr," and told them he first met him in May 2017, the criminal complaint explained. He said Szymik offered him money to have sex, and he told Szymik how old he was, according to court documents.
The 14-year-old told deputies Szymik then contacted him again on July 5 through Grindr. The two met in Szymik's truck where he allegedly sexually assaulted the teen, the criminal complaint said.
Szymik served as the Vice-President of a youth aviation camp, mentoring young people, for more than two decades.
The Aviation Exploration Base Chairman released a statement today in response, saying:
Upon hearing of the arrest of Robb Szymik for alleged felony child sex acts, the Aviation Exploration Base immediately took action to remove him from any involvement or contact with the Aviation Exploration Base. All staff and leaders involved with the Aviation Exploration Base have been made aware of the situation.
Based on the current investigation and legal proceedings, none of Mr. Szymik's alleged criminal activity involved anyone associated with or involved in the Aviation Exploration Base, we took immediate action to remove this individual and prohibit him from any future participation in the Aviation Exploration Base program, Exploring and all Scouting programs.
Nothing is more important than the safety of our youth members. We seek to prevent child abuse through comprehensive policies and procedures to serve as barriers to abuse. These include a thorough screening process for adult leaders and staff, requiring youth protection training of all adult leaders and volunteers, and the prompt mandatory reporting of any allegation or suspicion of abuse.
Szymik will be back in court August 11.
