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Former caseworker guilty, may get 20 years He sexually abused disabled clients - for years, officials say By JONEL ALECCIA A former county caseworker whose disabled clients referred to him as "Dad" and "my best friend" even as he plied them with alcohol, pornographic videos and deviant sex likely faces 20 years in prison for his actions. Robert Forrest Jackson, 63, of Talent, pleaded guilty Monday to sexually abusing and sodomizing five developmentally disabled victims, including four former clients. In addition, he pleaded no contest to sexually abusing two other adult males. As several victims watched from the back of a Jackson County courtroom, a gaunt Jackson answered "Guilty, your honor" to the felony charges read by Judge Patricia Crain. Crain accepted Jackson's pleas and a proposed sentence that would send him to the Oregon Corrections Division for 240 months, counting concurrent and consecutive sentences. A pre-sentence investigation should be complete in four to six weeks. The sentence would atone for what police and mental health investigators characterized as years of inappropriate touching and oral and anal sex between Jackson and former clients, including a 25-year-old man assigned to Jackson's caseload at age 12. "(The client) referred to the defendant Jackson as 'Dad,' " court records filed Monday revealed. Other defendants enrolled in the program for people with IQs of 70 or below called Jackson "my best friend" or "a pretty good friend," investigators found. The men reported being invited to spend many weekends at Jackson's residences in Ruch and Talent, times when the caseworker would give them alcohol and play videos depicting homosexual and heterosexual acts. Then, the 13-year veteran of the Jackson County developmental disabilities program would touch the men or ask them to touch him or perform oral and anal intercourse during incidences that dated to 1996. He promised one client more mental health program funds if he consented to sex, the report showed. Jackson was arrested in August after the girlfriend of one of the clients told a mental health worker her boyfriend had been molested by Jackson. A supervisor called in the Oregon State Police. The victims, who viewed their former mentor silently, declined to discuss the pleas Monday. But Deputy District Attorney Terry Smith said it was a fitting development in a troubling case. "I'm really happy that he accepted responsibility for his actions," she said. "It's a just result. He violated the trust of this community and he violated the most vulnerable people he was entrusted to care for." Jackson's court-appointed attorney, Andy Vandergaw, said his client changed his not-guilty pleas to spare victims and the community a lengthy trial. "He said, 'My life is over,' " Vandergaw said. "He never denied the conduct; he denied it was illegal." At issue, Vandergaw said, was whether the men - some of whom are married, hold jobs and have driver's licenses - were mentally able to consent to sexual acts. Jean Atalla, director of the developmental disabilities program, told investigators the men were vulnerable to seduction because of their diminished mental capacity. "If a person is seen by them as good, then their actions are not likely to be seen as bad," the report concluded. Jackson pleaded guilty to four charges of first-degree sodomy and one charge of first-degree sexual abuse involving five victims. No-contest "Alford" pleas were offered for two charges of first-degree sexual abuse involving two others. Those are pleas in which the defendant maintains innocence, but acknowledges he would likely be convicted if evidence were presented. Seventeen additional sex charges were dismissed as part of a plea negotiation. Jackson, who looked frail and thin in his standard-issue orange garb, has been lodged in the Jackson County Jail since August. Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.