Caregiver accused of repeatedly sexually abusing 9-year-old in Stillwater

  STILLWATER — A caregiver accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a 9-year-old during an eight-month period in Stillwater has been jailed on $275,000 bond pending a May 4 court appearance at which he can seek a preliminary hearing.

   If convicted of four counts of child sexual abuse, Robert Franklin Holbert, 24, who was arrested on March 24 at 5:14 pm, could be given a maximum penalty of four life prison terms, according to court documents filed last week.

   “On March 24, 2026, Stillwater police were notified of a child sexual abuse disclosure by a minor child,” at her school, who reported to a counselor that she had sex with an adult male, Stillwater Police Detective Rachel Bruce alleged in an affidavit.

   The child had made the initial disclosure to a mental health counselor on March 24 that the sex “occurred on a regular basis at night while Holbert was there to care for her,” and two younger children who were asleep, the affidavit alleged.

   She said Holbert was the only adult at home alone with her and the other two children when she was abused, the affidavit alleged.

   The child was then taken to the Saville Center for a forensic interview that the detective watched from a separate room, the affidavit said.

   The child “discussed Holbert making her promise not to tell or he would go to jail,” the affidavit alleged.

   “She also told (the forensic interviewer) that Holbert showed her pornography on his cellular phone, and they watched the (adult) pornography together on this device,” the affidavit alleged.

   At the Saville Center, the child had a medical examination conducted by a female nurse practitioner following the forensic interview “where she disclosed Holbert had raped her on numerous occasions,” the affidavit alleged.

   “The (medical examination) findings were diagnostic of sexual abuse and consistent with (the child’s) disclosure in the forensic interview,” the affidavit alleged.