FBI investigating Carlton property owner in national sex abuse case
The FBI and several other agencies are working on a large sex abuse case involving a professional photographer who worked out of the Carlton, Oregon area. Authorities are looking for more victims. So far, 52-year old Robert Arnold Koester has been indicted or charged with 55 counts involv
ing eight victims. So far, four of this victims are for crimes alleged to have occurred in Yamhill County.
Koester owns a farm and several buildings on 23 acres in rural Carlton. A site used as a remote photo studio at which young women were taken to for photo shoots.
Koester is currently in custody in California. It’s believed the Yamhill County cases occurred in the fall of 2018. On January 30, 2019, The Yamhill County Grand Jury charged Koester with 32 felony counts. Those include multiple charges of first-degree rape, first degree sodomy, first degree unlawful sexual penetration and causing another person to ingest a controlled substance. Koester’s bail has been set at two-and-a-half million dollars in Yamhill County.
Yamhill County District Attorney Brad Berry says plans are to extradite Koester to Yamhill County when he was released from California.
Berry and FBI sources says the investigation is ongoing. They have terabytes (a large number) of photos to process as evidence.
Berry says it’s believe Koester would bring young women to Yamhill County for photo shoots. It’s unknown how many victims there are. Koester has been working as a photographer since the 1990’s. You can find information on this case by going to www.fbigov/ModelCase
At the time of his initial arrest by the Carlsbad, California police, Koester was living in Southern California. He currently faces 23 felony charges filed by state prosecutors in San Diego County related to that arrest, including child sexual abuse and production of child pornography.
Specifically if you have information, or think you may have been victimized by Keoster, contact the FBI.
