Petaluma man accused of molesting his foster child

BY JULIE JOHNSON

A 65-year-old Petaluma man was arrested late Thursday on reports that he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl who was his foster child for about five years, the Petaluma Police Department reported.

Earl Mallory Desomber was being held in lieu of $125,000 bail on suspicion of multiple counts of felony sexual assault of a child, jail staff said.

Desomber is also being investigated by the Sonoma County Human Services Department, which runs foster care programs for the area, said Jo Weber, department director.

“He's not currently a foster parent, hasn't been for some time,” Weber said.

A therapist called police Feb. 19 after the girl, who was no longer in Desomber's care, disclosed questionable behavior by Desomber, police said. Desomber's relatives also told the therapist that there had been sexual contact between Desomber and the victim, according to police.

Desomber “confessed to multiple acts of sexual contact with the victim while she was posted in his care as a foster child” during police questioning, the police report said.

During the five years when the victim was under Desomber's care, they lived in Petaluma, Bloomfield, and Citrus Heights near Sacramento, according to police.

The human services department regularly investigates reports of child abuse but “rarely does it have to do with a foster parent,” Weber said.

“We respond to all reports of abuse and take them very seriously,” Weber said. “We're conducting a full internal investigation.”