Overview
- Robert Bassett, who was sentenced Wednesday, received four years and four months in state prison and must register as a sex offender for 10 years.
- He pled no contest to three felonies — unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, oral copulation of a person under 18, and sexual penetration of a person under 18 — under a plea deal that dropped two other felony counts.
- Prosecutors said Bassett groomed a 17-year-old foreign exchange student who lived in his Biggs home in 2023 and that investigators contacted the victim in her home country where she reported several sexual encounters.
- Bassett was arrested in July after a months-long local probe and a search warrant at his home, and the probation office had recommended a lesser term before the judge ordered the maximum sentence.
- Bassett served on the Biggs City Council and was mayor from 2022 through 2024, and the case highlights risks to vulnerable exchange students and the erosion of trust in small-town officials.