Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall set a $15,000 bond for Knox Community School swim coach Robert R. Corbin, who is charged with two counts of Attempted Child Seduction as Class D felonies. Corbin, 27, is also prohibited from making any contact with the victim.
In the affidavit in support of probable cause filed today in circuit court by Starke County Prosecutor Nicholas Bourff and prepared by Knox City Police Department Detective David Combs, it is alleged that on Wednesday, March 28, Knox Police Department Officer Chad Keen responded to a call and went to a residence in Knox. He was informed by the victim’s father that his sixteen-year-old daughter had been receiving inappropriate messages from a Knox teacher, and Officer Keen took printed pages of Facebook messages between his daughter and Corbin.
On Friday, March 30, police interviewed the parents of the minor and were told the father had been advised by his sister that she had been going through the students Facebook account due to a problem the student had been having with harassment from her biological father. During this time, she came upon several conversations that the student was having with Corbin, so she printed out the conversations and gave them to the father who promptly called the police.
The student was interviewed by officials and the girl indicated she is 16 years of age and a tenth grade student at Knox High School. She said she had been having conversations with Corbin on Facebook, telephone and texting. She explained that she knew Corbin from school and that the conversations began after an incident took place at school involving a fight outside. Corbin, while going outside to stop the fight, accidentally knocked over the student. After the fight was stopped, he went back and apologized for accidentally knocking her over.
The affidavit for probable cause indicates that on March 17 the student received a message on her Facebook page from Corbin stating, “no students as fb friends.” From that point the student replied to Corbin and several conversations took place between the two. These conversations continued from March 17 until March 22. Approximately 60 pages of conversations indicate that Corbin requested the student to send inappropriate pictures of herself to him. On March 21, Corbin and the student discussed how they could meet and that Corbin would come to her house to pick her up.
On Saturday, March 31, and into the early hours of Sunday, a statement from Corbin was taken advising him of his civil and constitutional rights. After waiving those rights, Corbin indicated to officers that he had sent the Facebook messages and that they were accurate. Corbin acknowledged that he asked for photos of the student, and that he knew she was a student and was sixteen old. Corbin admitted that no physical contact had occurred between him and the student, and when asked whether it was his intention to have the student come to his house to act on the messages he stated that they talked about it but Corbin was unsure if it would happen. An initial hearing is expected to take place later this week in Starke Circuit Court.
