A former Camas High School custodian and assistant softball coach who fondled multiple female students’ buttocks told a judge Thursday he couldn’t explain his actions.
“I couldn’t tell you the reason why (I did it),” Robbyn D. Mattson said, adding that he’s still trying to figure it out. He had no prior criminal history.
Court records state that Mattson previously told detectives “he did this for the thrill of getting away with something.”
Mattson, 59, was sentenced Thursday in Clark County Superior Court to spend 27 days on a work crew for inappropriately touching 18 girls while they walked through the school’s commons between class periods. The crimes were reported in December and took place over a one-month period, court records show.
Mattson pleaded guilty to 10 counts of second-degree sexual misconduct with a minor, a gross misdemeanor. As part of a plea deal, eight counts of third-degree child molestation were dismissed.
According to a probable cause affidavit, video surveillance showed Mattson leaving the custodian’s closet during changes between classes, winding through a crowd of students and then returning to the custodian’s closet.
A 15-year-old girl told her mother on Dec. 16 that Mattson had touched her buttocks. The girl said she initially thought it was an accident because it was crowded, the affidavit said. “However, when she heard it had been happening to a lot of girls, she realized it was probably intentional,” Camas police Detective Brie Bieber wrote in the document.
The Camas School District reported Mattson to police Dec. 17 after learning about the allegations. He was immediately placed on paid administrative leave as police investigated, and was fired in January, according to Columbian archives.
The ages of the victims ranged from 14 to 18.
On Thursday, Deputy Prosecutor Patrick Robinson called Mattson’s actions “egregious” and “a breach of trust.”
He said some of the victims wanted Mattson to serve jail time, while others said they didn’t care what happened to him.
“There was no consensus,” Robinson said.
Judge Scott Collier agreed to follow the attorneys’ sentencing recommendation. He ordered Mattson serve 30 days on a work crew, serve two years of probation and register as a sex offender for 10 years. Mattson was given credit for three days in custody.
Collier also ordered that Mattson not have contact with any of the victims and is to have only supervised contact with minor family members.
Robbyn Mattson is not to be confused with Robert T. Mattson, a teacher at Skyridge Middle School who is unrelated to the defendant.
