The author of a Santa Clara political blog, Robert Haugh, 39, was charged this month with a sex crime involving a minor. He pled not guilty at his arraignment on Feb. 8 and is currently free on a $50,000 bond. The trial is scheduled for March. Haugh has no prior criminal record.
Santa Clara police arrested Robert Haugh in November, less than a month after the Santa Clara Police Association PAC prominently featured the blogger’s commentary in campaign mailers attacking candidates opposed by Mayor Lisa Gillmor.
Trigger Warning: sexual assault
On Nov. 19, 2020, Haugh turned himself into the Santa Clara police after being advised that a Warrant had been issued for his arrest on Nov. 10, 2020 on the charge of “lewd conduct with a minor,” according to the Santa Clara Police Department arrest log.
Last August, Haugh was arrested on a different complaint, “sexual penetration with a foreign object.” He was released with no charges after the District Attorney found an “insufficiency of evidence” in the case. At that time, the DA requested additional information on the case, according to DA spokesman Sean Webby.
Haugh’s attorney, Charles Smith, told The Weekly back in August that the complaint was made by Haugh’s ex-wife in the course of a custody battle. As of publication time, Smith has not responded to The Weekly’s request for comment.
Haugh is currently charged under California Penal Code 288(a) of “a lewd and lascivious act” on a five-year-old girl “with the intent of arousing, appealing to and gratifying the lust, passions, and sexual desire of the defendant and of the child.”
A conviction carries with it a three- to eight-year sentence and lifetime registration as a sex offender for at least 15 years and possibly life.
Although Haugh is only charged on one criminal count, prosecutors gave notice that they intend to “offer evidence of another sexual offense or offenses.”
They also gave notice that they intend to present expert testimony on Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome (CSAAS) — a theory about children’s psychological responses to sexual abuse that can result in conflicting testimony.
There is controversy about the use of CSAAS testimony in sex abuse cases and it cannot be used as evidence in all states. Some states, like New Jersey, prohibit its use at all because of what critics say is an inherent implication of guilt.
Haugh is a former employee of The Weekly.
Since then, Haugh has worked for Diya TV USA, the school sports website Prep2Prep, tried his hand at being a wrestling promoter, took classes in early childhood education at a local community college and was briefly employed by two Bay Area daycare centers.
Haugh has been accused in the past of harassing behavior but has no criminal record. In 2015 his ex-wife’s grandmother requested an Elder Abuse restraining order against him, which she later dropped when her granddaughter separated from Haugh.
The Weekly has also been told of allegations that Haugh harassed a local public official, making repeated nuisance phone calls to their employer, claiming he was “checking references.”
View Comments (6)
I am an Expert in alleged child sex abuse cases and have testified as such in criminal court in California. And yes California Courts do allow testimony on the CSAAS (Summit, 1983) which is debatable since the theory allows children's allegations in sex cases which are unconvincing and accommodate the abuse(r) and even allows recantations into evidence. But the theory is inadmissible in my State of Florida as it attempts to justify and validate unsupported child sex abuse allegations.
These are allegations, Robert Haugh will have an opportunity to defend himself. But it's very rare similar charges keep surfacing over the same person - especially when they claim to be innocent. Maybe Haugh should take a break from his blog and promoting criminal cops to work on rebuilding his own personal character.
Robert Haugh seems to lie about anyone Mayor Lisa Gillmor wants him to lie about. It appears that he then comes back in as a commenter of his own posts and doubles down on his attacks. Once, while pretending to be a commenter he called out another commenter, knowing who she was! She didn't use her real name so only the moderator would have seen her email address and known who she was. She is the mother of the public official that he (and the mayor) love to abuse. He even threw a little abuse mom's way too.
Leading up to the election until the present, Robert et al. is still tying the new council people in with the 49ers. He implies that those members are allied with the team, not with the city. Untrue! The 49er PAC wasn't campaigning For those 4 candidates. They were campaigning Against the mayor, her personal friends, and her family lawyer. The lawyer doesn't even live in SC!
And, about those employers of the public official that Robert Haugh harrassed ("checking references"), that harassment cost that public official both jobs. What a gem, huh?
So, do I think that Robert Haugh is an honest person? Hell no, I don't!
Why oh why do Lisa and her "supporters" continue to support the wrong people, first it was the niners and now this blogger but of course they also supported another blogger back in the day. The problem is not just this guy but the root of the problem is the 'ruling families' that for too long have wanted to control SC. Selling off land that school districts owned, have contracts school property when no other districts do, bring a football team stadium into a residential district that already is under a flight path. A dead convention center that is being managed by a loser, a plan to build a downtown that was destroyed by a city councilor years ago, an entity that rents a football stadium but doesn't tell the city the truth - the list is on going. The city really has been badly managed for years and this type of 'worm' is just an example of the issues we have in the city.
Do you have an update on Robert Haugh's arrest or if there's been a trial? He is still spreading his BS in the city and people still follow him. What is wrong with people? They're following a pedophile for Christ sake. Go to church people and stop following the anti-Christ.
Jury selection is currently happening. Trial is expected to start next Thursday and last through 9/10.