Robert Jacob, progressive former mayor of Sebastopol in Sonoma County, Northern California, was arrested for “five felony and one misdemeanor sexual assault charges against a minor,” according to a statement from the Sebastopol Police Department.
Last Tuesday, when he appeared in the Sonoma County Superior Court, the number of Jacob’s felony charges was increased to 11.
Jacob has been a proponent of “defunding the police,” as had child sex offender Christopher DeVries – a leader of a local BLM chapter.
The charges against Jacob include: committing lewd acts with a child ages 14 to 15, participating in sexual penetration of a child under 16, making a child under 16 available to another person for lewd or lascivious acts, and distribution of child pornography.
Former California Democratic mayor charged with multiple sex crimes against child
Robert Jacob, 44, faces 11 felony charges
"thank you BLM, the rioters, and the protestors" pic.twitter.com/53HOXkfnm9
— An Open Secret (@AnOpenSecret) April 17, 2021
Police had received a tip about possible sexual assaults between December 2019 and March 2021 in the city and they opened an investigation on March 30. The investigation ultimately identified Jacob as a suspect and took the former mayor into custody. Sebastopol Police Chief Kevin Kilgore was not able to provide additional details, as the investigation into Jacob is still ongoing.
While no longer mayor, Jacob has remained politically active.
On June 5, 2020, Jacob expressed his support for the “defund the police” movement.
Commenting on the Minneapolis City Council’s decision to “dismantle the police department and replace it with a ‘transformative new model of public safety,'” Jacob called it “progress,” praised Black Lives Matter (BLM) for inspiring the decision, and ended, “I can’t wait for more!”
The next day, on June 6, Jacob lauded BLM rioters causing damage in various American cities. He called the rioters “our warriors. . .our rioters” and said BLM was fighting a “civil rights war. Violence is what it takes to win wars.”
Jacob claimed “police beat people daily and kill them regularly,” meaning that a “black person” breaking the “window of a CVS” should not be seen as condemnable. He ended, “Support our troops. . .It is a shame that we aren’t out there ourselves. Consider it dodging the draft.”
Last July, The National Pulse reported on Christopher DeVries – a BLM organizer who was arrested on “six counts of possession of child sex abuse images” as well as a charge for “falsifying physical evidence” for throwing his cell phone off his porch at the arrival of law enforcement. His cell phone contained 60 child sex abuse images.
At the June 21, 2020 “Skate Away the Hate” event, DeVries – like Jacob – had called for defunding the police. DeVries told local news his motivation for organizing the protest was that he felt “this is one of the best things I can do as a father on Father’s Day… I want to live in a world where racism is not accepted or tolerated.”
Jacob and DeVries join Micah Rhodes, a third BLM activist who was convicted of three counts of second-degree sexual abuse of minors and sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
