A former Democratic mayor of a Northern California city has pleaded no contest to six counts of child sex crimes, according to reports.
Robert Jacob, the 45-year-old former mayor of Sebastopol in Sonoma County, reached a plea deal earlier this month ahead of the jury trial that had been scheduled for Friday, the Press Democrat reported.
The victim, a minor who turned 16 by the time of a March court hearing, testified that he met Jacob on the Grindr dating app, according to the paper. He said that Jacob knew he was underage.
The victim had also said that Jacob sent him nude photos, touched him sexually multiple times and invited unknown men to have sex with him.
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The charges that Jacob pleaded no contest to include contacting the victim with the intent to commit a specific offense, arranging to meet the victim to engage in lewd and lascivious acts and committing acts of sexual abuse against a victim under age 15.
Five other felony counts were dismissed as part of the plea bargain, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing online records from the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office.
Jacob, who is a cannabis businessman, served on the Sebastopol City Council beginning in 2012 and was elected mayor the following year. He served a single four-year term and did not seek reelection.
Jacob is scheduled to be sentenced on March 23.