Monroe man who secretly taped sexual encounters with women gets five years in prison

Published 6:55 pm Friday, July 15, 2011

EVERETT — A Monroe man who secretly taped his sexual encounters with dozens of women is headed to prison where he’ll likely be on camera around-the-clock.

A Snohomish County judge gave Robert Allen Anderson a stern dressing-down Friday before sentencing him to five years behind bars for mult

iple counts of voyeurism and other felony charges.

One count — an animal cruelty charge — stems from Anderson encouraging his girlfriend to have sexual contact with a dog while he videotaped the incident.

Anderson’s “behavior is the most despicable I have seen as a judge,” Superior Court Judge Linda Krese said.

The defendant has no respect for the law and preyed on people no matter the cost, the judge said. He seems to believe he is smarter than everyone else and can get away with breaking the rules, Krese added.

“I suspect you can’t be reformed. You seem to think that you’re entitled to victimize people and do what you want,” Krese said.

Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives began investigating Anderson in October 2010 after his girlfriend found a cache of his tapes, court papers said. She turned some of the tapes over to Anderson’s ex-girlfriend. That woman told investigators she had no idea Anderson recorded their sexual encounters.

Sheriff’s Detective Lee Malkow discovered that Anderson had taped more than 50 women and likely had been making secret tapes for more than a decade. Malkow spoke at Friday’s hearing, commending the women for stepping forward. Some were afraid to talk, fearful about what society was going to say about them, Malkow said.

Some of the women attended the sentencing. One told the judge that she is a modest person and was horrified to learn that others had viewed intimate moments that she believed were private.

She is working to regain her dignity, she said.

Many of the women were concerned that Anderson had more secret video stashes that police hadn’t found, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Lisa Paul said. They are concerned that somehow the videos will be distributed over the Internet, subjecting them to further embarrassment and anguish, she said.

The prosecutor asked that Anderson, 49, turn over any additional videos he may have. She also wanted him banned from computers or the Internet without approval from his community corrections officer.

His attorney argued against those conditions, saying that Anderson needs a computer for his business selling hardwood.

Anderson said nothing to the judge Friday.

Krese sided with the prosecutor. She agreed to other restrictions, including banning Anderson from bars and not owning any animals.

Krese spent extra time going over the conditions that Anderson must obey while he’s on community supervision. She said she was confident that if the rules aren’t specific enough, Anderson would find a loophole.

Krese reminded Anderson that he had lied to her when she earlier agreed to allow him to post bail.

Anderson initially was released pending trial. Krese, however, later found that Anderson violated the terms of his release because he drank alcohol, went to a casino and met with his girlfriend. The woman was a witness in the case and Anderson was banned from having contact.

Krese at the time allowed Anderson to be on electronic home monitoring after he posted $80,000 bail. Anderson ended up cutting off his home-monitoring bracelet and fled to Oregon. Bond enforcement agents from Everett tracked the fugitive down and brought him back to the Snohomish County Jail.

He was sentenced last month to a year in jail for bail jumping and escape. That time will be served consecutive to the sentence he received Friday.

Anderson will have to register as a sex offender.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.