The family of a man, who claimed that he had been sexually assaulted when he was 13 was awarded nearly $400,000 in damages. The man claimed that his mentor, of a Bangor-area youth program, had molested him while he was enrolled in the program in 2002.
A Somerset County Superior Court announced the verdict last month ordering Roland DesRoberts, 61, to pay $37,965 in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages.
Previously, DesRoberts had pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of possessing sexually explicit material of a minor below the age of 14 in relation to the same case in 2004. He also pleaded no contest to a charge of unlawful sexual contact with someone under the age of 14. For both these charges he was sentenced to 4 years in the state prison and four years of probation.
The jury's verdict against DesRoberts was quite severe primarily because, even at the trial, the sexagenarian denied the plaintiff's allegations despite the fact that he had made a complete confession to the Maine State Police in the Fall of 2002. The jury found that DesRoberts was still unwilling to take responsibility for his actions and hence pronounced a strict verdict against him despite the fact that his assets are negligible.
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