Blowing the Dust Off Some Files. The Robert Dowe Coleman Controversy.
In response to this alarming issue I took a field trip to Frank Crowley and sorted through microfilm files from an era long ago. This photo is practically me, minus the fro.
So without a crash course in legal forensics, here’s what I’ve got.
It looks like Robert Dowe Coleman’s record began in 1980 when he plead guilty to sexual abuse of a child under the age of 17. He was sentenced to 2 years in the slammer and somewhere along the way ended up doing some hard time working on a prison farm (thanks to a few antique 1980s processes it’s hard to get super clear dates but it appears he served just under a year). He got out on probation after a bunch of people wrote character reference letters to the judge. You might find the letters chilling to read in 2010 as they spotlight some twisted views of pedophiles at that time if the perp was otherwise “a good person.”
Then it looks like in 1983 his probation was revoked after he plead guitly to sexually abusing another boy under the age of 17. So Coleman returned to the slammer with a sentence of 5 years. Files are fuzzy as to how long he actually served.
Then in 2006 another male came forward alledging that he was abused by Coleman in 1996. That case was later dismissed because the victim wouldn’t testify. It appears all three of the boys were 13-15 years old at the time and have ties to the Park Cities- their names are redacted.
UPPD was the filing agency listed on this 1983 True Bill of Indictment. So I think it’s safe to say that Coleman has been on University Park law enforcement radar for at least 27 years. But only on neighborhood radar for 2 weeks?
Merritt,
Extremely thorough reporting, many thanks. I guess the one follow up question I would have for Chief Adams is that, given this history, how in the world could there have been a question as to whether he should have been registered as a sex offender? And maybe there is a delay, but he is still not on the registry.
I also agree with your comments on the chilling character references. The Catholic priest writing him a reference after meeting him two times is expecially eerie, given the churches history of struggles with sexual abuse.
But all of that aside, it’s time that this creep is outed, and known, and identified. Taping children two weeks ago? We’ve got to find a way to get this abomination back in jail.
I am so sick after reading this. I can’t believe that the UPPD knew he was a predator but did not feel the responsibility to notify the community. I don’t give one rats tail about where he went to school or how smart he is or how much he can offer society or how much his mom needed his earning potential. The people that wrote those letters were not thinking about the best interest of anyone but themselves or their family. It is all trumped by the fact that he is a SOB repeat predator that needs to have a warning posted in his front yard. WHY was he not required to register? How many more are out there walking the streets with our kids, flying under our radar? SICK MAN!
Wow, Merritt…really great reporting. Thanks for making the effort to time-travel via microfiche and find out the information for us. I am somewhat shocked by your findings that UP law enforcement is most likely familiar with Mr. Coleman’s past, because I pull up the sex offender registry every other year or so and he has certainly not been listed on there since I moved to UP (1993). Maybe Chief Adams can shed some further light on the oversight? You did a service to the community by investigating this; thank you.
Sorry Merritt-I was so annoyed at what I read that I forgot to say THANK YOU for such great research and information sharing.
From the reference letter link, it looks like his attorney in the early 80’s was former Dallas DA, Bill Hill.
I could just throw up after reading this. Excellent work, Merritt. I’m not usually one for witch hunts, but being the mom of 2 boys I could be after reading this.
Why are the names of those who vouched for him obscured? If they are willing to risk the safety of children around this guy by assuring the judge that Coleman is no risk, then they should be willing to say it with their names attached. Where are these people now? I’d love to see them look his latter victims in the eye and state, again, how “moral and ethical” Coleman is. Disgusting!
The letters on behave of RBC contain words and phrases such as “this will never happen again”, “learned his lesson” and “ethical, high morals”…..WAKE UP! That was from his first offense and how many more did he commit after 1979/1980 and got caught. (how many times was an act committed but not known due to victims not wanting to come forward)
Sick & D – you are right…’REPEAT OFFENDER’ and not on the registry is ridiculous
@Tinkerbell- I made the decision to redact names of some references acting in a non-professional capacity for several reasons but mainly because I feel sorry for them. I struggled with that one.
I feel like I have egg on my face from my last post. This is a very dangerous situation. I pride myself on keeping up with area news, but I don’t remember any of the 2006 allegations being discussed. We need a serious explanation from the police and our city government about why this guy has been allowed complete access to our neighborhood without oversight. I also wonder why our esteemed district attorney, knowing the predatory history of this man, did not do more to further his prosecution.
And you nativists, who have lived here for decades and decades, what do you remember about this guy?
I understand holding back the names of the supporters. They were probably fooled by him too. Plus in the early 80s this was not viewed as a life long issue, but something that could be treated with shock and traditional therapy. Were any of the letters after his 2nd offense in the early 80s or all from his first offense? Don’t remember.
Someone please tell me that this guy’s attorney in 1979 wasn’t THE Bill Hill.
@Sick- I didn’t find any other letters than the ones I’ve posted, they were all dated in connection with the first offense.
I don’t feel sorry for the refernces. Vouching for someone’s character is serious business. It should not be done lightly or covertly. I think they should have to stand by their words and/or accept their role in future victims’ abuse.
My heart goes out to the kids involved in these incidents. The adults let them down.
Thanks Merritt! We appreciate you and all your hard work to get the facts and make the community aware of a danger to our precious children. God bless you.
@ Tinkerbell,
Agreed. They chose to address the “pain and torture” that that creep was undergoing in prison over the protection of children. I pray that Harry Coleman’s children weren’t terrorized by this creep, because their father certainly wasn’t going to protect them from his brother.
I’m sorry, even in the 80’s they knew it was wrong, and should have protected the children.
As an older PC resident, wanted to voice my feelings on this topic.
There are often perps all around your kids. Perps are often community leaders, neighbors or other people you might hold in high regard.
One of my perps as a child was a priest that I adored. I worked in youth ministry at my local parish, attended retreats and most every church function all through high school and college. Because I was from an abusive home, I had fled to the church to escape that home only to land in the lap of this priest. He sexually abused me for years.
The priest denied everything and is still a priest today.
On my long 20 year journey through sexual abuse recovery, I realized that many other kids were sexually and physically abused in their upper middle class homes where the parents were community leaders, siblings were high achievers and otherwise an awesome appearing family on the outside. No criminal history of any type in the family.
What I am not doing a good job of saying here is that there are often perps in the midst who are community leaders or in other offices like a priest of elected official so kids might think they are automatically safe just because of the “role” the perp holds.
There are perps out there who never hit any “list.” They don’t have a criminal history and your kids are exposed to them. I know everyone is different, but my offenders were in the church, my family and in the political arena.
This is off topic a bit but point was to say elite neighborhoods often hold undocumented perps.
I am almost 50 and still trying to recover from the abuse and the trauma of those who knew, and did nothing because the offenders were too elite to be charged.
Tinkerbell-good point. I do not feel sorry for them one bit but I can see Merrit holding back the full names. And D-the thought of the nephews being targeted was one of the first things I thought when I was reading those awful letters. He is a slim ball and I am so proud of the mom that outted him to the community. It is ashame that it has been a secret for so long. Maybe this is why Chief Adams is looking for a job in Colorado? He knew and did nothing to alert his citizens? But it did happen before he became chief…
PC Survivor 🙁 I’m sorry you were harmed by those you trusted and failed by so many around you. Thanks for adding to the conversation. I imagine it is not something that is easy to write about. So many of us were abused in our childhood. It makes me want to protect my children even more when I really know there is little I can do if someone wants to harm them. I just try to keep informed and talk openly with my children.
Man, talk about a cautionary tale……the worst of it is, he was first caught 25 years ago, and then as recently as a few years ago – common sense says he’s not caught every time, so how many little boys have been harmed in all these many years? How many are walking around carrying that awful, scarring secret?
Why is he not a registered sex offender? I like many others have checked that website many times over the years (and been relieved that by comparison we have so few in our area – talk about false relief!) Did I miss something reading all this, did Chief Adams answer that?
So a 17 year old kid who has consensual sex with is 15 year old girlfriend has to register for LIFE as a sex offender.
A 16 year old girl who “sexts” a pic to her bf has to register as a sex offender/child pornographer.
But this guy has been running around without anyone having to know?
sick…I do the same with my daughter who is now off at college. I talked to her at an early age about her body being a sacred gift from God and to always come to me if anyone made her uncomfortable.
I know this will not sound logical (because it is not logical) but I feel sadness for the offender’s family as well here. I know with my own family, my parent was a really great guy most of the time and was an all around great Dad when he was older. He is in his 80’s now and has been great for decades. I know that some perps hit alcohol and become perps and others hit obstacles in their lives and become perps. I am not an expert, but I know my Dad was no longer a perp as I got older. I know he was abused as a child. He went to therapy and got better.
I feel sorry for the family because I know that when I came forward, just to them (not outside the family) they were just destroyed. And, it was like I destroyed them, not my Dad. Those good things were true about my Dad but the bad things happened too. Later, he was good and I held that past to myself not wanted to tarnish the family.
My whole family knows it happened but we have not discussed it for two decades. The family moved on.
As far as the priest goes, that killed me spiritually. Not from the priest abuse but more from the church fighting me once I did come forward. Even the youth minister who walked in on him abusing me testified on my behalf, but the church ruled in the priest’s favor. They knew I would not go public because of backlash on my family. The priest was aware of my home abuse and if I went forward about him, he would go forward about my family.
That deal last week where the priest was arrested for trying to kill the boy who came forward really upset me because even after all these years, I was afraid of the same thing happening to me.
Those politicians have been out of office for decades too but I did tell law enforcement and they too did nothing saying I could not prove it despite other kids coming forward too.
I’m not sorry it all happened because it made me focus on God and not the church and understand that there is a problem with perps getting away with abuse in our government. Now, I quietly serve as an advocate of children abused by former politicians.
Abuse is not all black and white. It is gray really. It is gray because often, the children love their offenders or love the people it would hurt if they came forward like the mom and siblings. Or, they love the country and people would call them anti American if they tried to push the issue about politicians who abuse kids.
Believe me….it is a very tough issue. I am just moving out of the gray area, into the light area and it is a relief.
Good job on this one, Merritt.
Regarding Chief Adams comments in the previous thread:
1) Why was Robert Coleman originally not required to register as a sex offender? It seems like every other sex offender was required to register. I assume the Chief can provide us with that information.
2) What change in the latest Texas Legislative session now requires him to register?
3) After the changes from the Legislative session, what is the process for them to actually register? A letter sent to their house, a police visit letting them know they need to come in and register, the honor system?
4) Are there more offenders in the neighborhood that are now required to register? If so, will the authorities let them know, or is it up to the neighborhood moms to do this?
5) How long will it be until Coleman shows up in the offender data base?
Also, thanks Merritt for letting us know about this. Two thumbs up!
Totally understand why you redacted the names from the character references because I’m sure they thought they were doing the right thing, but it seems pretty easy to deduct who wrote the letters:
First letter – Someone named “Joni” who lived on Glenwick in October 1980
Second letter – The Reverend James _____ at St. Michaels (!), who was there in October 1980
Third Letter – Written by Harold Garvin of the law firm Garvin, Bonney, Weaver & Corley in Duncan, Oklahoma (his last name is redacted in the signature line, but his full name appears in the letterhead)
Fourth Letter – Someone from _____ Oil Company, which had an office in Suite 4800 of the First National Bank building (now the decrepit 50 story building with the vertical white stripes at 1401 Elm Street next to Renaissance Tower)
Fifth Letter – His brother, Harry Coleman, as discussed in other comments.
Sixth Letter – Someone named “Jerry” who lived on Centenary in October 1980
I guess it would be a nice parlor game for some of the old timers to figure out who these people are. Or if anyone really cares, they could show the same get-up-and-go as Merritt and make a trip down to the courthouse.
Alot of people seem surprised by this, but according to this source there are actually 3 registered sex offenders in UP.
I always check this website before moving homes. We previously lived in Greenway Parks area, which has 16 sex offenders.
Hope this website helps. It has their name, address, and picture. http://www.familywatchdog.us
There are more than 1,400 in Dallas and I hope that our society will get tough on crime and prevent repeat offenders.
Good work bring light to this.
@Neal. Fourth letter was from Maguire Oil Company, according to text in the letter.
Very disturbing that two priests would opine on Coleman’s character despite admitting they only had met him a few times. Even more disturbing is his brother’s description of Coleman as a “victim of circumstance”.
Thanks, Merritt, for staying on this story. And kudos to James T for admitting his first reaction to the news was wrong.
Does anyone have a current photo of Coleman?
I was the victim of a stalker in college with serious mental issues. There were no anti-stalker laws at that time, unless they actually did something to you. I only got away from it by moving away at the end of college, it was terrifying. There should be laws protecting children from someone filming or stalking them. If a convicted pedophile is not allowed within a certain distance from schools, shouldn’t that apply to a group of children as well. I understand he has rights, but where are the rights of the children that may not have the kind of radar that that mom had. His history clearly shows he should not have any contact with children, and honestly any adult filming my kids would be creepy and not acceptable.
Merritt, I just have to say thank you for all your work. I think everyone has the same questions. Why with all this information was he not registered? Do we need to set up a meeting with the UP police department & find out the answers to our valid questions? Also how do we go about putting a stop to this in our neighborhood? I am feeling like perhaps the UP police knew exactly where to look when my friend called them after he filmed her children. I also am concerned that there are other children who have not reported what happened to them. I would think that taking photos of children would be a reason to put a convicted sex offender back behind bars. I do not know enough about the rights of these offenders. If someone could suggest where we as concerned parents go from here I would appreciate your input. I know my dear friend & her family still have many unanswered questions as many of you seem to have.
Again Merritt from our family & on behave of the latest “victims” and yes they are victims, Thank you! We will all be watching Robert Coleman to make sure you NEVER harm another child.
Dear Merritt,
thank you so much for your careful work and disclosure.
Please continue on this issue.
We have many unanswered questions and we must do what we can to safeguard our neighborhoods.
Certainly a man with a criminal record involving children\should not be able to walk around and film children and offer them money!
We know that this is a pattertn of dangerous behavior.
I feel the police have not been doing their duty in protecting our children.
Thank you so much Merritt for your continued work on this case. It is so important to have someone willing to help uncover the horrendous background of Robert Coleman. He has gotten away with so much and it makes me wonder why? Rich? Well connected? He actually raped boys and only got a few years? Now he is a free man. The lawyer from the 2006 charged postponed the case 20 times over 4 years – this is a defense attorney tactic to wear out the victim and it worked. The boy eventually decided not to testify. This is so sad. I am sick about this. He is a repeat offender and should be sent back to jail. We are not safe with him around. He begged to get out of jail the first time, read his letter stating he would never do it again, and then a year later he molested another boy and ended up back in jail. Why is he being so protected? What about our children? This makes no sense and I am sick about it. Merritt, please continue your investigation. Thanks so much.
Who was the defense lawyer in the 2006 case?
Wait-No time to reread but did I miss this earlier…was Bill Hill his attorney that got him a light sentence and released on the first offense and also the DA when his case was dismissed in 2006? Hmmmm…fishy. Wonder what THAT connection is.
They are everywhere period. These people are sick, sick to the point that they are going to do whatever they have to do to be around kids. They are going to hold jobs as teachers, counselors, coaches etc. They will volunteer at schools, churches and recreation centers. These people don’t look like monsters or wear scary masks. Unfortunately the majority of the time they are people we have allowed into our child’s life. Grandparents, step-parents, baby sitter etc. The bottom line is, parents if you see someone paying special attention to your child you need to watch out. I realize that you can’t be with your children 24 hours a day but it is your job to protect them. If you spoke to every parent of an abused child I highly doubt you will find one that will tell you that they THOUGHT this person would ever do that kind of thing. They are not hiding in the shadows, they look like every other person walking the streets. As a community you need to worry about everyone, not just the ones who have been caught and forced to register. The ones that haven’t been caught or prosecuted are just as dangerous. These people can’t be rehabilitated. They have no business walking the streets. I understand it cost money to feed and house these people but until society as a whole decides to do something about it nothing will change.
I do not live in the city but have children that attend H.P. schools and have to point out some observations. It appears the community overall has a false sense of security. I see kids walking back and forth from school without supervision, selling lemonade to strangers on the corner without a parent in sight. Those are just a few of the examples that can be seen on any given day in the park cities. A child abductor could pull them into a vehicle and be gone in a matter of seconds. Every year there are between 40-150 child victims of abduction, by a stranger, that are killed each year in the U.S. In those cases 44% were killed within the first hour, 76% were killed within 3 hours, 88.5% were killed within 24 hours, 99% within 7days and 100% within 30 days (Taken from The National Center for Missing and Abducted Children). My point in sharing those numbers was to bring home the fact that if a child is abducted time isn’t on our side. Those numbers should scare you as parent.
I think it was John M. Gioffredi. I think he was rated one of the best defense attorneys in D Magazine. This 2006 case actually ended in October 2010 if I am reading the case files correctly.
Kudos to you Merritt for your valuable reporting.
If I am understanding the information being uncovered, Robert Coleman is a convicted “Sex Offender” and has continued his perverted ways most of his life and continues even today…..”Sex Offender” is not strong enough to describe Robert Coleman….he is a “RAPIST OF YOUNG CHILDREN” and he lives and operates in your neighborhood……What are the Police really doing? How about the Mayor of University Park and the City Councilman that are our elected officals. Who do the Police Department report to? Is every family in University Park and Highland Park being notified of this
CHILD RAPIST being a potential threat to the children of the Park Cities? Who’s child is next? Where is the alarm??
Where is the education of our citizens and children in our schools, church’s, etc. Robert Coleman’s picture should be published so everyone can be aware of this RAPIST.
Thank you for your work on this, Merritt. Once again, I’m so glad you are keeping an eye on things around here. You are such an asset to this community. As the mom of a 13 yr old boy who lives not too far from this creep, I find this information so valuable. Thank you, and keep up the good work!
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Now in Dallas Morning News although they reported the age of the boy incorrectly. He was younger – 9 years old.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/120410dnmetoffendervideo.419b2b8.html
I think it’s interesting- the police are spending so much time ticketing moms at the elementary schools at pick up time, but not watching or alerting us about this creep…If Chief Adams spent as much time on the important issues, like SEX OFFENDERS, as he has on the traffic tickets Officer Rosales has been giving out, then Coleman would surely already be locked away!
Hats off to you, Merritt. And heaps of praise to the mom who didn’t know any of this information but trusted her instincts and called the cops. Mom of the year. Mom of the decade. Seriously.
Obviously Mr. Coleman has a LOT of problems, and there are certainly what appear to be some issues in his cases as far as laxness in prosecution/sentencing that are cause for alarm.
But for people to blame Chief Adams and the mayor, etc., because Mr. Coleman is legally allowed to live here is just beyond bizarre. Everyone just needs to get a grip on sanity for a second.
Eloise-I’m not blaming them for allowing him to live here. I am blaming them for allowing him to live here unregistered and ‘off their radar’. We stalk the window washer guy, white vans that drive too slow and mom’s that don’t pull all the way into the carpool que, but a admitted, life long predator goes unwatched.
Can someone please tell me why he was not required to retroactively register in 1997 with all the other convicted offenders that committed the crime after Sept 1, 1970?
http://www.lbb.state.tx.us/PubSafety_CrimJustice/6_Links/SexOffender.pdf
and that link is to a doc from 1998! This is nothing new people. He should have had to register. What am I missing?
does he drive an older green van? or what vehicle does he drive?
i confronted a creepy dude in a green van late last summer while riding bikes w/ my kids. he told me he was looking for a church. yeah right.
great, so now our children can’t walk or ride bikes to school or for fun, can’t go to a friends house alone, can’t play in the yard, have lemonade stands, or any of that ever again!
Just one bad apple ruins the whole barrel for the neighborhood & society. Akin to a terrorist – holding us hostage & ruining our lives forever.
now our children will be couch potatoes’ growing obese and having little social interaction.
cheers to the father who tried to chase him down, and all others for noticing him.
confront suspicious characters. ask them questions & take note. let them know you are suspicious.
society, is this what it has come to?
@interesting – they need to keep ticketing the mom’s (parents) that violate carpool rules and all other rules of driving around the schools, please don’t even suggest they need to slack off on that to protect the community from the convicted child rapists. They can do both, the city’s not so big or busy.
@Sick The registry started around 1995 or so and was not retroactive. In 2006 he was accused of committing a crime in 1996 but that case was dismissed. He was last convicted of committing a crime in 1983. The law changed in 2009 to include convictions prior to the start of the registry and going back as far as 1970.
I’m not sure I’m buying into all the hysteria as it relates to how naive we are in regards to the security of our kids. We know are neighborhoods. We know who is supposed to be here and who is not. We call if something suspicious happens (as we can readily attest by this incident). Mr. Coleman sounds like a “groomer”, not a kidnapper. The fact that he prefers young boys also makes him a pedophile. He needs to know that he is being watched and his activities will be monitored by the community. Maybe he won’t be able to handle the added scrutiny and will decide to relocate.
@Bess-the article I linked to is from 1998 and does talk about retroactive registration being a requirement. Maybe because he was not also currently under supervision or something?
About 10 years ago my ex was befriended by a nice old man named Don at the UP pool. The ex used to hang out there daily as did Don. The ex would take our daughters as well. Don started giving gifts to the ex and the daughters. Don even would hold the youngest (age 1) in the pool and invited them over to his place which was right across from the pool and one or two duplexes in from the park where the swing sets are.
One evening I read an article in the DMN about the sex offender registry and it had a link. I pulled it up and put in our zip code and there were a hand full of registered offenders – I had one of the pictures on the monitor when the ex walked in and saw the picture and said “Hey, that’s Don from the UP pool.” I explained to her why his picture was on the monitor. He had been convicted of violating two girls who were around 12 years old at the time I believe. He was given 10 years probation. I never confronted Don but all communication with him by the ex stopped and he eventually moved. I always wondered why a registered sex offender was allowed to live right across from a public swimming pool and next to a park for children but I figured it was legal since he was registered.
At the time I read about sex offenders and it seems that someone had written that the average offender commits nearly 50 offenses before being caught.
@James Tucker – relocating just allows a sex offender to be less obvious at his new residence.
@Dubious; But relocating gets him out of our neighborhood. I don’t think that we need to have the attitude that this offender is our problem permanently. If he chooses to stay in our city then he will have to endure the additional scrutiny that the registry and our intrepid reporters will give him. If he doesn’t then “adios” and “don’t let the screen door hit you on the way out”. The registry is meant to take care of the problem of offenders moving about. We shouldn’t feel guilty about his decision to move.
FYI: COLEMAN’S ADDRESS IS: 3715 BRYN MAWR
I BELIEVE WE SHOULD AVOID USING ATTORNEYS WHO REPRESENT CHILD MOLESTERS AND GET THEM OFF. HOW MANY BOYS WERE AFRAID TO COME FORWARD?
IS IT LEGAL TO PUT A SIGN IN YOUR YARD WITH THE NAME AND ADDRESS OF A SEX OFFENDER? I AM HAPPY TO MAKE THEM AND GIVE AWAY.I AM SERIOUS. IF IT WASN’T FOR MERRITT, THE MOM THAT CALLED POLICE AND ALL OF THE ABOVE REPLIES I WOULDN’T HAVE KNOWN ANYTHING ABOUT THIS MAN THAT LIVES A FEW BLOCKS AWAY FROM ME. I AM SO APPRECIATIVE THAT WE HAVE THIS OPEN DIALOG.
@James Tucker – As I said in my previous post, the average is 50 offenses before caught. I’m not sure he belongs in anyones neighborhood.
MOMCONCERNED:
I am with you. I will help you make the signs. I wouldn’t mind sneaking one into HIS front yard. He wouldn’t see anyway, b/c he keeps all his window shades down and no lights on. I know b/c I have walked and driven by his house a million times since moving here 12 years ago.
I have some recollection of a friend of mine that lives in Old East Dallas getting sexual predator alert cards in the mail. She said she got them on a regular basis, it was a card that notified you of a sexual predator that had moved into your ‘hood, with their picture, stats, crims and address. Should that be happening when a one newly signs up in your neighborhood as well?
Update in the Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-upupdate_04met.ART.State.Edition1.4cff531.html
Another DMN story
http://parkcitiesblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/12/university-park-cases-raises-q.html
If anyone makes signs I’ll take one!
The letters of support are shocking to me. I really find it hard to believe people can write a letter stating what a good person he REALLY is – BS wake up!
I would like to add to my previous input. Like Mr. Tucker says maybe he will be moving on and that would be great but not for the new neighborhood so we need to be sure his history moves with him as the current laws intend. Maybe the police can be sure that info gets sent.
Just a reminder, this creep is still here.