The former Sebastopol Democrat mayor, California, has pleaded not guilty to child sex crimes charges. He will spend seven years prison.
Robert Jacob, a 45 year-old Democrat, was elected mayor of Sebastopol in 2013 and early 2016. He also served on the Sebastopol city council. In 2021, he was accused of six child sex offences.
Jacob can accept a sentence and conviction through a no-contest plea. Jacob will serve seven years imprisonment as part of his plea agreement with the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors claimed that Jacob had met an underage man on gay dating app Grindr before December 2019, after Jacob had left the mayor’s offices. Prosecutors were told by the boy that Jacob had sexually assaulted him at his home on several occasions between March 2021 and late 2019.
Jacob was also accused in sending nude photos to the boy and inviting other men for sex. Jacob was also accused of sending the boy nude photos and inviting other men to have sex with him. Jacob was arrested in April 2021 by authorities.
The New York Times published a glowing profile about Jacob after he was elected mayor in 2013.
The Times reported:
Jacob, a relative newcomer to Sebastopol, has been a resident since 2004. Jacob was born in Rodeo in the East Bay to immigrants. His father is from Mexico, and his mother is from Iraq. His family moved to the Central Valley with him. However, because he was not comfortable in the conservative culture of the area, he decided to move to San Francisco at age 15. He first lived in a shelter for homeless youths in San Francisco. Jacob attended high school in San Francisco and worked as a social worker for various social service groups that helped victims of domestic violence and H.I.V. positive youths.
Jacob stated that he moved here after finding many people “hiding inside their homes, basements and cabins, growing cannabis.” This inspired him and his business partners to make their first nervous steps towards opening the dispensary.
Jacob is due to be sentenced on March 23.
