On March 30, 2021, Sebastopol police officers received information of possible sexual assaults that occurred in the City of Sebastopol between December 2019 and March 2021.
Upon further investigation, the suspect was identified as Robert Jacob, the former mayor of Sebastopol (2014) and the co-founder of Peace in Medicine, Sebastopol’s first cannabis dispensary.
On April 10, 2021 at 7 a.m., Sebastopol police officers contacted Robert Jacob in the 7400 block of Woodland Avenue and took him into custody for an arrest warrant related to five felony and one misdemeanor sexual assault crimes against a minor, including 266j PC, 288(c)(1) PC, 288.2(a)(1) PC, 288.2(a)(2) PC, 288.4(a)(1) PC, and 289(i) PC. (According the California Penal Code, these involve, among other things, transportation of a child under 16 for lewd and lascivious acts, distribution of child pornography, arranging a meeting for sexual purposes with a person believed to be underage and sexual penetration with a person under 16 years of age.)
Jacob was transported to the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility and is being held without bail.
This investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Sebastopol Police Department at 707-829-4400 and refer to Report #21-0220.
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