ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 20, 1996 TAG: 9601220044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
A Roanoke County man charged with 53 counts of molesting several girls is scheduled to plead guilty Monday.
Detectives arrested Robert Paul Dallas, 50, last March on a handful of sexual abuse charges against two sisters who lived near him on Capito Street in North Roanoke County.
By June, investigators had uncovered three additional victims and had accused Dallas of sex crimes that spanned 15 years. A grand jury returned 53 indictments against him.
According to the calendar at the Roanoke County Circuit Court on Friday, a jury no longer was scheduled to be called for the Dallas case. It is expected that the plea will take most of the court day.
Prosecutor Susan Cohen declined to comment about the case. Dallas' attorney, Charlie Phillips, did not return phone calls Friday.
Among the most serious charges against Dallas are two counts of rape, each carrying up to a life sentence. He also is charged with 30 counts of indecent liberties, 13 counts of aggravated sexual battery, six counts of producing sexually explicit visual material involving children, one count of attempted carnal knowledge and one count of carnal knowledge.
Dallas' plea would culminate a nine-month investigation that uncovered allegations of sexual abuse and found a variety of sexually explicit materials in Dallas' possession, including videotapes of children in sexual situations and computer files that detailed sexual activities with girls.
The investigation began when the two sisters, now in their 20s, told detectives they had been abused by a neighbor since they were children.
The sisters, who are not being named because of the nature of the case, said the sexual abuse began in the late 1970s when they were 7 and 9. Dallas befriended the girls by buying them toys and expensive dinners and by taking them skating and to movies, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Roanoke Circuit Court.
The relationship gradually progressed until Dallas began taking nude photos and movies of one of the girls, according to the affidavit.
During their search of Dallas' home, detectives found a computer file called "Hot Stuff." The spreadsheet notes a girl's first name, a date, a location within the house and, in some instances, a sexual activity. The files date to January 1988.
Police also confiscated an unsigned "confidential" agreement between one of the sisters and Dallas, denoting a specific sex act in return for money. Police believed the agreement never was acted on.
Dallas was arrested immediately after police searched his house in March. He has remained in Roanoke County Jail without bond since that time.
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