ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996 TAG: 9604220031
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
ROBERT PAUL DALLAS apologized for what he had done. But Judge Roy B. Willett believed Dallas was more worried about himself than his victims.
Robert Paul Dallas said his child molesting began with a game of Truth or Dare.
The dare, he said, came from an 11-year-old girl.
Dallas, 50, testifying at his sentencing hearing Friday in Roanoke County Circuit Court, said the girl goaded him to expose himself. Scared that she would leave his house, he said, he agreed.
"She began daring me to expose myself to her, almost making a joke of it," he said. "Honestly, I thought if I didn't, she'd leave, that she wouldn't be my friend anymore. Since I didn't have anyone to talk to, I did it."
In January, Dallas pleaded guilty to 24 counts related to his molestations of four young girls in a series of incidents more than 10 years ago.
On Friday, he blamed his crimes on mental illness, loneliness and promiscuous children.
"I acknowledge what I did," he told Circuit Judge Roy B. Willett. "I am very sorry for what I did."
But Willett doubted Dallas' sincerity, telling him he appeared more concerned for himself than the well-being of his victims. Willett sentenced him to 32 years and 3 months in prison.
Dallas faced a maximum sentence of 43 years and one month for 17 counts of indecent liberties, four counts of producing sexually explicit materials and three counts of aggravated sexual battery.
Several videotapes he made of his molestations provided the key evidence against him.
"He took 18 years of my life away from me," one victim, who's now 29, said outside the courtroom.
"It's peace of mind," she said of the sentencing. "I don't have to worry about where he is now."
Two pictures of Dallas emerged Friday.
Defense attorney Charlie Phillips presented Dallas as a lonely man suffering from manic depression. His mental illness got so bad he sometimes would walk nude around his property at night, Dallas testified. He befriended many young people, the defense said, becoming a Big Brother to local boys and a confidant to many of the teen-age girls in his North Roanoke County neighborhood.
The prosecution portrayed Dallas as a master manipulator who seduced girls with affection, attention and gifts.
"It makes you wonder how this poor man always finds himself in the position where all these young children want to undress themselves in front of him," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Susan Cohen said.
In the spring of 1995, a young woman who had known Dallas since she was a girl was at his house working on his computer. She opened a file that detailed sexual encounters with her and her sister.
It was then, she said, that she became aware Dallas also had molested her sister. The woman told police, who then investigated the former Norfolk Southern budget analyst.
That investigation led detectives to Dallas' safe deposit box, which held videotapes documenting sex games he played with the girls. Dallas referred to the tapes Friday as his "deepest, darkest secret." Once they were out, he said, he had nothing to hide.
The victims included a mentally handicapped girl who was a friend of Dallas' family in Ohio. Dallas molested the girl while she and her family visited Roanoke and stayed at Dallas' Capito Street house.
"I felt very guilty," he testified of that incident. "I started having hallucinations."
He envisioned police cars racing to his house and officers arresting him.
"I decided at that point I had to get my behavior under control," he said.
He saw a psychiatrist, but did not tell of the abuse. If he had, the doctor would have been obligated under state law to alert police. Even now, he said, he is unsure why he did the things he did.
"It's abhorrent. It's wrong. It should never happen," Dallas testified. "It took me a while to come to grips with the reality of what I'd done. But once I did ... I want to face it. I want to get help."
As part of his sentence, Dallas must enroll in a sex abusers' treatment program and cannot have private contact with any minor.
"It's really a shame because of your obvious ability, but there's no excuse for this," Willett told Dallas. "You spent much of your adult life abusing little girls."
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB