*Editor’s note: This article discusses the sexual assaults of minors and may be disturbing to some readers, however, these survivors have expressed the importance of speaking out against their abuser in hopes of encouraging others in similar situations to do the same. To quote one of them, “We have to talk about things that are very painful.”
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*Editor’s note: This article discusses the sexual assaults of minors and may be disturbing to some readers, however, these survivors have expressed the importance of speaking out against their abuser in hopes of encouraging others in similar situations to do the same. To quote one of them, “We have to talk about things that are very painful.”
PINEDALE — Following three hours of testimony on Feb. 27, Robert “Bob” Wayne McCutchan, of Pinedale, was sentenced by 9th District Court Judge Melissa Owens to a total of 16-23 years in prison for the repeated sexual assaults of his granddaughter and one other minor victim, both of whom are now adults. McCutchan, who was arrested on June 13, 2023, was convicted for committing sex acts against his granddaughter beginning when she was in kindergarten and against one of his Sunday school students at a local church.
The two survivors of McCutchan’s abhorrent actions delivered impact statements at his Feb. 27 sentencing hearing. His granddaughter, Kaisha Simpson, now 31, gave a powerful, hour-long speech in court, telling the judge, “This man took my innocence away from me … A child’s shoulders were not built to bear the weight of a monster’s choices.”
After listening to both women, Judge Owens rejected the terms of McCutchan’s pre-arranged plea deal in favor of a more severe punishment that will likely see the 77-year-old Pinedale man die in prison.
Initial plea and charges
Count I charged that from about Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2001, McCutchan inflicted sexual intrusion, cunnilingus, on a victim younger than 12, sexual assault in the second degree. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and $10,000 fine.
Count II, also a felony, alleged that from about Jan. 1, 1998, through Dec. 31, 1998, as an adult he subjected a victim younger than 14 to sexual contact, with the girl’s intimate parts, namely her vagina, and her clothing covering them: sexual assault in the third degree, with a maximum of 15 years in prison and $10,000 fine.
Count III, a third felony, alleged that from the summer of 1994 through the summer of 1996, McCutchan performed immoral or indecent acts with a different female child’s intimate part, her vagina, and had her perform fellatio on him: Immoral or indecent acts with a maximum of 10 years in prison and $1,000 fine.
The total maximum penalty McCutchan faced for his actions was 45 years in prison and fines of $21,000.
Change of plea
For Count I, Special Prosecutor Tucker J. Ruby of Buffalo would cap his sentencing argument to 10-15 years in prison with credit for time served. Public defender Elisabeth Trefonas would be free to argue for any legal sentence. For Count III, the state agreed to cap the sentencing argument at 6-8 years in prison, to run concurrently, at the same time, with the sentence for Count I.
Sentencing
On Feb. 27, Owens sentenced McCutchan to 10-15 years for Count I and 6-8 years for Count III to run consecutively for a total of between 16-23 years behind bars.
Following the ruling, Simpson told the Pinedale Roundup that the judge’s decision to reject the plea deal and run McCutchan’s sentences consecutively, back to back, rather than concurrently, at the same time, “is a great outcome!”
Survivors speak out
“I’m not ashamed of what happened to me,” Simpson told the Pinedale Roundup about disclosing her identity, adding “I was a defenseless child carelessly placed in the hands of someone I was supposed to trust. For 25 years this man has had control over me. I decided to take my power back.”
Of McCutchan, Simpson said, “This man exploited his role as a grandfather, he saw me as an opportunity.”
At the Feb. 27 sentencing, Simpson began her impact statement by reminding the court that she was only 6 years old and weighed about 45 pounds when McCutchan, then 55 years old and 250 pounds, began assaulting her.
Unbeknownst to Simpson, who was in first grade in the 1990s, four different families reported that McCutchan had molested or exposed himself to their children at a local church.
In April 2022, after learning that one of the Sunday school children who reported abuse by McCutchan in 1998 wasn’t taken seriously and deemed “unreliable” and a “delinquent,” Simpson knew she had to come forward and report the sexual abuse by her grandfather. “That gave me the final push to report Robert (McCutchan), in hopes of giving (name redacted) some closure and the justice she deserves.”
In her Feb. 27 impact statement, Simpson admonished investigators for failing the other girls. “If (name redacted) was believed, if the other two girls were listened to, I wouldn’t be up here. I should not be standing up here today. The system buried reports of sexual abuse. Report after report was not handled properly.”
Simpson told the judge, “It doesn’t matter if the abuse was yesterday or 20 years ago, it will never be forgotten. A part of me died in that home and I mourn for the life I could have lived. I grieve the loss of the small innocent child who was never given a chance. People tell me this made me a strong person but I wasn’t supposed to be strong, I was supposed to be protected.”
“No one deserves to have their own self taken from them,” Simpson told the judge.
But it’s not just McCutchan who betrayed Simpson’s trust. “The system, the community, law enforcement, and the families and parents that failed me, they also need to be accountable for their actions,” she said.
Previous investigations, convictions
In 1975, McCutchan, then 28, was convicted for masturbating in front of an 11-year-old child in Texas. He was incarcerated for one month and then released on probation for 10 years.
As part of the investigation into Simpson’s case, Sublette County Sheriff’s Detective Travis Lanning looked into a case from the 1990s that named McCutchan as the defendant; former Circuit Court Judge John Crow felt there wasn’t sufficient probable cause and dismissed the case in May 2000.
Detective Lanning listened to a 1998 cassette interview with a 12-year-old victim and contacted the woman, now 37 years old, who explained the sexual abuse began in 1994 when she was 8 years old and attending Sunday school taught by McCutchan. She said McCutchan “would have different girls sit on his lap” and often took her to the park where he would take his pants down and ask her to touch or “kiss his penis,” she said.
‘Sick man,’ sick games
Following the 2023 interviews, Lanning provided the woman with a recording device and sent her to meet with McCutchan.
She told him she needed to understand the reason behind the abuse. The former Sunday school teacher replied, “I don’t know what to say hun, I’m just a sick man. I wished it … wouldn’t have happened, sorry I did, I ain’t gonna help ya.”
In the courtroom, Simpson said her grandfather framed the more than 100 sexual assaults as games. During one type of “game,” McCutchan would direct Simpson to “go get a blanket,” sit on his lap, and drape the blanket over them both to cover the fact that he was sexually assaulting her in the same room as other family members. During another so-called game, McCutchan bent his granddaughter over a couch and said, “I’m going to put it in now.”
“He convinced me that this was love,” Simpson said in court. “He preyed upon my innocence.”
Simpson urged adults in Sublette County to promote “safety for the vulnerable in our community,” adding, “We have to talk about things that are very painful.”
“I don’t believe that children and women need to find their voice, I know that they already have it,” Simpson said, “I am just here to inspire and motivate them to use it. I stand here today to tell these girls that it’s going to be okay. I’m here to tell you that I believe you. I stand up here today for all of you.”
Moving on
With McCutchan’s conviction, Simpson is finally free from the fear that he will harm her or another child, and with that comes the ability to move forward with her life. “I will walk away from this courtroom today, leaving all the evil and darkness with Robert. I give him my pain, my flashbacks and my fear. They now belong to him. I have carried around this pain for far too long and today I am giving it back. It was never mine, he has rightfully earned it. I am absolving myself of all blame and responsibility for what he did to me; what happened is not, and never was my fault,” Simpson affirmed.
Simpson concluded her statement, recalling, “When I was younger, Robert would tell me time after time, ‘Kaisha, if you ever tell anyone (about this abuse), I’ll be sent away and you’ll never see me again.’ Well, he was right. I said something and I’ll never have to see him again.”
