Mendocino County Jury Finds Fort Bragg Man Guilty of Sexually Abusing a 6-Year-Old Child

The following is a press release issued by the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office:

A Mendocino County Superior Court jury returned from its deliberations late Friday morning to announce it had found the trial defendant guilty as charged.

Defendant Robert Stanley Hrbac, age 45, of Fort Bragg, was found guilty of Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child Under the Age of 14 Years, a felony; as well as Preventing and/or Dissuading a Victim From Reporting Her Victimization and Cooperating With a Law Enforcement Investigation and Prosecution by Means of a Conspiracy, felony.

The jury also found true sentencing enhancements charged by the District Attorney alleging that defendant Hrbac has suffered a prior conviction in January 2006 in the Mendocino County Superior Court for committing Lewd and Lascivious Acts With a Child Under The Age of 14 Years, a felony.

After the jury was excused and the case recalled during the afternoon session, an additional hearing was conducted to determine whether the prosecution had proven any aggravating sentencing factors in the course of the trial. Seven aggravating factors were found true by the court.

The law enforcement agencies that developed the evidence used at trial to convict the defendant were the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s own Bureau of Investigations.

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A special note of appreciation is extended to four of defendant Hrbac’s prior victims who showed strength of character and courage by appearing and testifying before the jury — and in front of the man who abused each of them — as to their respective prior and separate sexual victimization by defendant Hrbac.

Specialized assistance and trial testimony was also presented through an out-of-the-area pediatric psychologist with special training and experience in child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome. Specialized trial testimony was also provided by a member of the local suspected abuse response team (SART).

Additionally, on the morning that jury selection was to get underway back on February 13, 2024, defendant Hrbac’s co-defendant (and wife), Yani Atheia Beaty, age 41, of Fort Bragg, threw in her towel and admitted her criminal responsibility instead of putting her fate in the hands of the jury.

Co-defendant Beaty withdrew her not guilty pleas on the 13th and instead pled no contest to Preventing or Dissuading a Witness From Reporting a Crime to Law Enforcement, a felony. She also pled no contest to being an Accessory After The Fact to Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child Under the Age of 14 Years, also a felony.

A plea of no contest to a felony charge is legally the same as a guilty plea for all purposes, save for the spelling.

Defendant Hrbac’s matter was referred to Adult Probation Department for a background study and sentencing recommendation ahead of the sentencing date now calendared for April 4, 2020 at 9 o’clock in the morning in Department A of the Ukiah courthouse.

Defendant’s Beaty’s probation referral has been trailing the outcome of her co-defendant’s trial. She was ordered to return to court also on the 13th to receive her referral to the Adult Probation Department and for the setting of a sentencing date.

The prosecutor handling the child sexual assault cases against both defendant Hrbac and defendant Beaty is Assistant District Attorney Dale P. Trigg.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Keith Faulder presided over defendant’s Hrbac’s two-week trial and defendant Beaty’s last second admissions of criminal culpability.

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