Quincy man accused of molesting daughter

[Editor’s note: the spelling “spate” is in the original document.]

QUINCY — A Quincy man is denying allegations that he inappropriately touched his daughter several different times over the last five months.

Grant County prosecutors charged Pedro Cobian, 58, of Quincy, with three counts second-degree child molestation-domestic violence and second-degree incest-domestic violence in Grant County Superior Court.

The victim in the case, a 13-year-old girl, told a deputy with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office her father, Cobian, has been inappropriately touching her for the last five months. The girl also claimed her 16-year-old brother has been inappropriately touching her since she was 9. The victim was placed into protective custody with Child Protective Services (CPS) on March 28 and assigned to a foster family, according to court documents.

On March 29 a CPS worker advised the deputy who is investigating the case the victim was talking to her older sister who lives in Mexico. The sister reportedly confided to the victim that she too had been sexually assaulted by Cobian in the past.

“(The CPS worker) stated she also learned that Pedro has five spate sexual abuse allegations against him in Mexico and that is why he came to the United States. (The CPS worker) stated there are five daughters in all and another one lives in Georgia,” wrote a deputy. “The daughter from Georgia is also a victim.”

In her interview with a detective the victim claimed her oldest sister told her in addition to the sister who lives in Georgia, Cobian had “raped” another one of their sisters. The victim stated her oldest sister was raped by Cobian while she was living in Mexico at the age of 11 and her grandmother contacted Mexican authorities. The oldest sister allegedly went in for an interview and took a pregnancy test, but was removed from the interview by her mother.

The victim went on to describe several instances of sexual assault perpetrated against her by her brother and father, occurring in both Mexico and in the Quincy area. In his interview with the detective Cobian outright denied the allegations and insisted on having a lawyer present before going any further with the questioning.

The victim’s mother admitted her daughter had told her Cobian had inappropriately touched her. She claimed noticing that Cobian and her daughter “did tickle each other a lot and Pedro would go over and pinch her stomach,” according to court documents.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.