A Florida man is facing decades in prison after being charged with 1,200 counts of sexual assault and incest involving a minor, according to local station WKRG.
Police said Robert Cota, 31, of Pensacola, was charged with 600 counts of sexual assault on a victim between the ages of 12 and 18 and 600 counts of incest that allegedly took place over the last six years. He was arrested after a local pastor turned him into authorities, the station reported.
The pastor told police that Cota went to his church’s new members’ event and Cota asked to speak to him at the end. He said the conversation was about the church guideline book pertaining to sexual conduct. The pastor stated Cota had a problem with the word “incest.”
The pastor said he told Cota what he was doing is not right and needed to report himself to authorities. The pastor later provided Cota’s current address and phone number that he filled out while at the event to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
Police later located the victim and her mother. The victim told investigators she had been “having sex” with Cota since she was seven years old. She estimated it happened 600 times over several years, according to the arrest report.
The victim’s mother said that she caught Cota in bed with the victim in September and confronted him about it. In response, Cota pointed a gun at the girl and was arrested for aggravated assault and domestic violence while authorities began investigating the sexual assault and incest allegations, according to WKRG.
Cota was booked at the Escambia County Jail, where he is held without bond.
