Houston, MO. – A Houston man being held on a half-million-dollar bond is accused of sexually assaulting a child in 2021.
Robert Toler, age 49, was arrested on Friday, May 19, 2023, and charged with Statutory Sodomy with a person less than 12 and is being held in the Texas County Jail.
According to the probable cause statement, an investigation was opened on May 9th when the 13-year-old victim reported that her mother’s boyfriend had inappropriate sexual contact with her. An interview with the victim was performed by the Child Advocacy Center in West Plains.
The victim told the interviewer that two years prior, Toler entered her bedroom and touched her vagina under her pants and touched her breasts. The child told the interviewer this had happened multiple times. The victim stated she had just told her grandmother what had happened recently because she asked if he had done anything to her after the suspect had made comments about marrying the child.
The victim’s mother told the interviewer that nothing had happened between the suspect and victim because “they pinkie promised this wouldn’t happen again”.
The victim’s grandmother told investigators the victim told her the suspect had wanted to shave her private area and the suspect and victim had showered together.
The Houston Police Department used a computer to communicate with Toler, who is deaf, to read him his rights. Using the medium, Toler requested an attorney and the interview ended.
Toler was then informed by a member of the Missouri Department of Social Services Children’s Division that his children would be removed from the home and placed in state custody. The suspect responded “that his wife had dropped everything” and “that no one had been hurt or molested since 2 years ago”.
