Ex-Church Youth Leader Gets 18 Years : Courts: Defendant receives severe prison sentence for molesting 12-year-old girl. Judge says Robert Rose is a danger to society.

As his teen-age victim dabbed tears from her eyes and his lawyer argued for leniency, a former Camarillo church youth-group leader convicted of molesting one of his young charges was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in prison.

Rejecting a defense argument that the young victim initiated sexual relations, Superior Court Judge Ken W. Riley said Robert C. Rose represented a threat to children and ordered the 49-year-old defendant into immediate custody.

“Mr. Rose is a pedophile and does pose a danger to the safety of the community,” Riley said, ruling against a defense motion to free the former director of a Catholic youth program at St. Mary Magdalen pending an appeal of his jury conviction.

Rose, who has denied any wrongdoing in connection with molesting the then 12-year-old girl, flashed an encouraging smile to his wife as guards ushered him to a holding cell.

Nearly a dozen supporters have accompanied Rose to court since December, 1993, when prosecutors filed a 10-count indictment accusing him of using his position to lure the girl into at least 10 sexual encounters.

The group of supporters--euphoric two months ago when Rose’s conviction was thrown out briefly before being reinstated--seemed outraged at the length of the sentence, gasping as he was led away to jail.

“Relax,” defense attorney James M. Farley urged them. “We’re not through. Just relax.”

The 18-year sentence may appear harsh, considering Rose never forced the young victim to have sex with him, said Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Lela Henke-Dobroth, who oversees the sex crimes unit.

But she added the punishment is appropriate given allegations of past misconduct, for which Rose was never charged, and “the position of trust he held in regard to this vulnerable victim.”

The emotional toll of the case was evident on the anguished faces of friends and family of both the defendant and the victim after Tuesday’s sentencing. Both sides declined to comment as they left the courtroom.

Farley, who twice asked for a new trial after the verdict in December, 1994, said he plans this week to ask a state appeals court to overturn the conviction. Farley said he will argue that the jury erroneously considered evidence during deliberations that was not introduced at trial.

But the prosecutor in the case, Deputy Dist. Atty. Saundra Brewer, predicted that Rose will have to serve his sentence, despite any legal maneuvering by the defense.

“I think justice was served,” Brewer said outside court.

Under state law, Rose must serve at least half of his sentence before being eligible for parole.

In February, Riley initially tossed aside the conviction and ordered a new trial after jurors acknowledged reading a police report that contained unsubstantiated allegations that Rose may have attempted to destroy some evidence related to the case.

Reversing his own ruling a month later, Riley reinstated the verdict of the jury, which found Rose guilty of all 10 counts charged against him. The judge ruled essentially that Rose was convicted based on the strength of the victim’s testimony.

The girl told the jury that Rose would fondle her in his car when he gave her rides home from church program meetings. The sexual relationship began in January, 1993, with a passionate kiss in the church’s recreation hall and lasted several months, the girl testified.

Crying at times as she described how their relationship developed from friendship to romance, the girl said she finally got scared when Rose drove her to his work office, undressed her and himself, and began touching and kissing her.

“I wasn’t ready to go further,” she said, expressing a fear that she might have got pregnant.

One of his former stepdaughters testified at the trial that Rose had molested her and her sister. A third woman, who was a member of Rose’s youth group, asked to make a statement Tuesday about her allegations of assault. The judge did not allow her to speak at the hearing.

In arguments before the sentencing, Farley acknowledged that Rose broke the law with his conduct. But he argued that prison was too steep a sentence. Under state sentencing guidelines for child molestation, the judge could not grant Rose probation. Farley asked for the minimum sentence of five years for his client.

“This is the most nonviolent, violent crime you may ever have before you,” the defense attorney told the judge. He called Rose “an honorable man.”

But prosecutor Brewer said the worst part of the case was that Rose violated the trust of the parents who enrolled their children in his program. “They thought he was a protector of their children, not a predator.”

The mother of the victim agreed. Asking for the maximum sentence, she told the judge: “I don’t think he should be on the street to do this to another child.”