3 Settle Suit Resulting From Child Sex Case

A Pentecostal minister, his wife and a Sunday school teacher who were acquitted of charges in the 1994-95 Wenatchee child sex cases have settled a civil rights lawsuit against the state for $850,000.

With trial scheduled to begin on Monday, the Rev. Robert “Roby” Roberson wrote to supporters Thursday that the amount was “nothing close to what we were asking for.” But, he said, “[we] felt with all of our financial obligations and debts and attorneys’ expenses that this was the prudent thing to do.”

State Department of Social and Health Services spokeswoman Kathy Spears confirmed the settlement, but referred additional questions to the state attorney general’s office, which did not return a call.

The lawsuit alleged that state social workers had violated the plaintiffs’ civil rights and interfered with their family relationships.

In addition to Roberson, the other plaintiffs were his wife, Connie; their 9-year-old daughter, Rebekah; religious school teacher Honnah Sims; her husband, Jon; and their 18-year-old son, Daniel.

The adult Robersons and Honnah Sims also alleged that the social workers’ actions had led to their false arrest and imprisonment. All three were acquitted during 1995 trials.

Because of a paperwork error, the case was split off from a $60-million civil rights lawsuit filed by Roberson and others that also included as defendants Wenatchee police and Douglas County sheriff’s office staff.

A jury rejected the civil rights claims after an 11-week trial in Seattle in 1998. That case is now on appeal.

A number of lawsuits have been filed against the state, the city of Wenatchee and former police Det. Robert Perez over the handling of the child-sex abuse investigations.

Twenty-eight Wenatchee-area people were charged with sexually abusing scores of children. Fourteen pleaded guilty, five were convicted and charges were dismissed or greatly reduced against six others. The Robersons and Mrs. Sims were acquitted.

In the past 1 1/2 years, cases of more than a dozen of those convicted or who pleaded guilty have been reviewed by courts or dismissed outright.