SALINE CO.—An accused sex offender from Eldorado has had bond posted for him and he is free pending a next hearing.
And residents of Eldorado who are aware of James B. Roberts, now 70, and the charges against him are expressing concern for the situation, especially in light of where Roberts resides: not far from a church, in one direction, and school (both grade school and high school) in another.
The situation with Roberts emerged in Eldorado when a 7-year-old boy came to one of his parents on Sunday, March 17, stating he had “had enough” of the elderly man and what he was doing to him.
The boy, who was later termed the first victim, advised members of his family that Roberts, who was friendly to the parents and had always been like a grandfather to the kids, had been “doing things” to him and to his little sister, age 6, beginning back in October 2012 and continuing up to that very day.
Describes abuse to ISP investigator
The family called Illinois State Police immediately, and their response was to send special agent Rick White. In White’s report, he indicated the kind of abuse the little boy was alleging against Roberts:
“(The children, whose names are redacted in the report) disclosed that James Roberts had been touching their privates. (The children) were interviewed at the Guardian Center on March 18, 2013. (The boy) described James fondling his penis on several occasions, and (the girl) described James inserting a glow stick into her vagina and forcing her to masturbate him to ejaculation. James was interviewed at his residence and admitted to fondling (the boy’s) penis on three or four occasions. James also confessed to inserting a tampon applicator into (the girl’s) vagina.”
Roberts was then taken in on preliminary charges of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault and Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse, two counts each.
Bail was set at $150,000 ($15,000 cash).
The ‘grandfatherly type’
Roberts sat jailed at the Saline County Detention Center until one Alice R. Roberts was able to post the ten percent and spring him on March 20.
By this time, the public was learning about the case and many were stepping forward to tell what they knew about Roberts: That he had for many years worked as a truck driver, and his job took him to several states across the country. He had contacts in those states, and family in one in particular: Georgia, where, in Warner Robbins, his daughter Tina, apparently not aware of Disclosure, was virulently hateful toward the truthful reports as they were outlined in court documents and according to what people who’d known Roberts for years were bringing out.
One of the things that prompted much concern on the part of locals was the elderly man’s recent behavior. Roberts, said many who knew him, portrayed himself as a “grandfatherly type who endeared himself to people and got close to their children.” One of the ways he did this was to attend their weekend events, such as a gymnastics group that traveled.
One Saline County resident told Disclosure that her family had observed Roberts in faraway Edwardsville, Illinois, at a gymnastics meet in early February and with a camera with a very long lens.
“We thought it was odd considering they allow no flash photography,” the source advised. When her husband asked Roberts what he was doing there, Roberts answered that he was “watching his grandchildren.”
“Knowing the circumstances now,” the source said, “it is scary since there were hundreds of children there ages 5 to 18.”
The source then advised that there was another gymnastics meet on March 2, in Pana, Ill., where Roberts was present, ostensibly “watching” another little girl, this according to the company he was keeping at that meet.
Second set of charges
Shortly after Roberts was bailed out on the first set of charges, however, the ongoing investigation brought about yet another set—and a third alleged victim.
This time, the allegations were that between June 1, 2012 and March 17, 2013, Roberts had fondled and squeezed the buttocks of a 10-year-old female for the purpose of sexual arousal, as well as showed her a magazine the “depicted nudity and which taken as a whole was harmful to minors.”
Roberts was charged with two Class 2 felony counts of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse of a victim under the age of 13, and a Class A misdemeanor county of Distributing Explicit Material to a Minor, this filed on March 27.
He was arrested that same day and the bail recommendation by Assistant State’s Attorney Eva Walker was now a half-million, or $25,000 bond.
However, when Alice Roberts showed up to bond him out on March 28, the bonding sheet shows he was released on $2,500 cash.
A next court hearing was set in the case for April 15 and Roberts went on his way.
Nervous neighbors
The developments are what have those in the vicinity of his Indiana Street home in Eldorado nervous and aggravated.
Despite having explicit terms of his release spelled out as that he’s to have no contact, via any form, with any of the victims or their families, those who know him wonder just how many victims there may end up being, and how many will come forward.
Under guarantee of anonymity, many of Roberts’ family members—who live in the area but who won’t have anything to do with him, thus aiding him in his “poor, elderly grandfather figure” persona—spoke with Disclosure about how “weird” they’d known Roberts to be, throughout their entire lives.
One woman advised that one of Roberts’ ex-wives had a son (by a previous marriage) who himself had spent time in DOC for the same thing. Danny Wilson, now 50, had been charged with multiple child sex offenses in 1994 and had gone to prison for it.
Another family member advised that Roberts had been “touchy-feely” with his own daughter-in-law when his own son had begun dating her in high school, and that she reported he’d “been like that around everyone…and he was weird around children.” The source didn’t elaborate any further on that.
It remained unclear as of press time what kind of motion was set for the April 15 hearing (also on press deadline); check the online version of Disclosure for any developments in the case as it proceeds at www.disclosurenewsonline.com